In only its fourth practice of the spring season, the Oregon Duck football team looks to be in near season form. Monday morning’s practice at the Moshofsky Center looked scarcely different than the Ducks’ mid-November practices leading into the heart of their conference schedule last fall.
“It seems like it’s slow, but we got more reps today than we ever do,” second-year head coach Chip Kelly said. “They are starting to get into a rhythm, and they’ve got the tempo and the pace down.”
Though the Oregon squad does return eight starters on the defensive side of the ball, there has been one major change made with junior linebacker Eddie Pleasant in the early going.
After playing all 13 games at the strongside linebacker position in 2009, Pleasant has made the move to rover for spring camp.
“The blessing for us thus far is that we’ve been able to move Eddie and try him in the secondary,” linebacker coach Don Pellum said. “At the same time, we’ve had enough depth at the linebacker to where it hasn’t hurt us at all.”
Pleasant recorded 54 tackles during the regular season, while tallying the second-best mark on the team with four and a half sacks. Pellum said his speed and physical play could make him a standout in the secondary.
“It would be beneficial if we could move him back there and keep him back there,” Pellum said. “Because we would add just another fast, stronger presence, (who is) really good at
blitzing, really good at covering.”
Pleasant utilized his speed to get in the backfield nearly every other play on Monday morning. He also rotated back to the free safety position when starter John Boyett adjusted to overloaded offensive packages. His prowess to learn a new position in a short amount of time has clearly earned him the respect of his former linebacker companions.
“Eddie’s doing a tremendous job right now,” senior Spencer Paysinger said. “For somebody to make the transition only two weeks ago, he’s picked up a lot of our schemes really well.”
Taking over for Pleasant at the strongside linebacker position is senior Bryson Littlejohn, who has seen the majority of the reps with the first team during spring drills.
Though Littlejohn recorded only nine tackles in his 11 games last season, he’s shown to have the size at 6 feet 1 inch, 227 pounds and foot speed that will make him hard to stop.
“Bryson came in and we weren’t sure what the best position for him in our system was,” Pellum said, adding that Littlejohn will remain at the strongside linebacker position through the duration of camp.
“What spring allows you is an opportunity to play guys and put them in positions and evaluate them,” Pellum said. “Then toward the end of the spring you kind of seal up positions, and then after that you set your depth chart for fall camp.”
Two positions that will clearly not need re-evaluating will be the two inside linebacker slots, which will be locked down by Paysinger and Casey Matthews for the third
straight season.
The two tied for second on the team with 81 tackles each during the regular season and have shown to be as durable as they come in college football. Paysinger has started 19 straight games at the weakside linebacker position — his 25 career starts are the most be any defensive player — and trails only wide receiver Jeff Maehl (29) for the most career starts on the team.
Matthews, on the other hand, has started 20 consecutive games and was one of only three Duck players to surpass 1,000 plays last season.
“They had good years,” Pellum said of Paysinger and Matthews. “They didn’t have great years. And as we know the enemy of great is good.”
Pellum said he challenges his two leaders to not only be great at what they do, but to also understand the defensive scheme well enough to direct the younger players when things get chaotic — the same message that Kelly reiterated to the whole team.
“Our challenge to them is ‘Did you get better today?’” Kelly said. “‘When you stepped on the field and you walked off the field, were you a little bit better?’”
[email protected]