The first time out, the Oregon defense proved to be ahead of the game.
This time out, can it do the same?
Jerry Matson sure hopes so. The linebacker was a mainstay during the Ducks’ first spring scrimmage last week. Oregon playsin its second on Saturday.
“Round two, it’s always interesting, the buildup,” Matson said. “You always get the little conflicting things between the offense and defense.”
As much as the rustiness of the Oregon offense was expected in the first big workout of the spring season, the defense’s ability to play together was a surprise. Not because it’s still early in the year, but because of who the Ducks have lost.
Oregon has lost players at each facet of defense — at the secondary, linebacking and line positions.
Matson, for one, must feel like he’s on an
island out there. With Kevin Mitchell and David Martin having departed, the senior is the only returning starter at linebacker.
“I think it’s uncertain at this point simply because Anthony Trucks is not practicing,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “I think there’s great competition right now between (Reggie) Kerney and (A.J.) Tuitele. I think that’s created a competitive environment at that same back position. I think at the will backer position, Ramone Reed has shown up and done some very good things.”
Igor Olshansky left the Ducks early and Haloti Ngata is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. To compound the team’s lineup problems, Devan Long has not been cleared for the spring and Robby Valenzuela was banged up early on, most notably with a sprained ankle that has not completely subsided yet.
“We like to have a lot of depth because we can look back and see guys who can step up and play for us,” Valenzuela said. “Right now, there really isn’t anybody so we’ve got to stay in there to take all the reps.”
In the secondary, Keith Lewis and Steven Moore are currently preparing for the upcoming NFL Draft. Justin Phinisee and Marley Tucker return as starters.
Add up all of that, and the defense has lost six starters from last season’s team. The Ducks are set to return five, but only three are playing prominent roles during the spring.

FYI
Bellotti said the Ducks will practice for up to an hour and a half Saturday before the actual scrimmage. From then on, Oregon will participate in the scrimmage, which is expected to last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.
In other words, not much will change from last week’s workout.
“Some of the things we learned from the first scrimmage, hopefully the mistakes we made, I want to remedy those,” Bellotti said. “I want to correct them.”