Oregon’s freshman quarterback may get his first start versus No. 5 Washington on Saturday.
DuckTerritory.com reported Tuesday that the Ducks are “planning to start” Justin Herbert this weekend. DuckTerritory also said, “however both quarterbacks continue to take first team snaps and things could change before Saturday.”
Herbert came in to replace senior-transfer Dakota Prukop during last week’s game against Washington State. He led the Ducks on an 85-yard touchdown drive and was 3-for-5 for 70 passing yards. Prukop was 14-of-22 in the air with 132 passing yards and one interception.
KVAL anchor and reporter Preston Hiefield confirmed DuckTerritory’s report on Twitter Tuesday afternoon.

A source confirms that Justin Herbert found out today he will start at quarterback for Oregon this weekend vs. Washington #GoDucks
— Preston Hiefield (@PC_Hiefield) October 4, 2016

Head coach Mark Helfrich was asked after Tuesday’s practice about the quarterback competition.
“Everywhere across the board there’s competition,” Helfrich said. “There’s naturally, this got brought up yesterday too, naturally that position gets a lot of blame and credit — neither warranted. We’re making adjustments everywhere.”
He then was asked directly if Prukop was still the starer: “Yeah, I mean, we’re still competing.”
After the WSU game, Helfrich said inserting Herbert into the game was just a chance to get him acclimated to NCAA football.
“Not any huge statement other than trying to get him in there in this environment against those guys,” he said.
Offensive coordinator Matt Lubick also commented on the quarterback situation after the WSU loss.
“That’s something we’re re-evaluating,” Lubick said. “I thought [Prukop] did a good job. There were situations where we didn’t execute and it wasn’t his fault. We have to go back and look at the tape. We’ve always had confidence in Justin, but right now it’s Dakota’s job until we evaluate further on.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne