Though a stress fracture kept him from practicing as much as he would have liked, it appears Oregon’s all-conference tight end Tim Day is at full strength and ready to go against Oklahoma.
Day said his stress fracture is completely healed and a slight injury last week hasn’t hampered his practices. He is getting all his repetitions in with the first team.
“I tweaked my knee during the week of the Indiana game,” Day said. “I’m doing everything 100 percent, full-go at practice and will be ready.”
Day didn’t start the game against Indiana for precautions, but had two receptions for 32 yards. He will have to be a bigger part of the offense if the Ducks want to pull off the upset against No. 2-ranked Oklahoma.
Day said he understands that his staying healthy will be one of the keys to the team’s success against Oklahoma.
“Now I’m better and ready to go get the Sooners,” Day said.
Oregon’s late-season success last year was the team’s ability to throw to an array of receivers and to utilize Day’s pass catching skills.
During the last four games of the season, Day caught 12 passes for 170 yards (the Ducks were 3-1) compared to 11 receptions for 148 yards during his first nine games (the Ducks were 5-4).

Phinisee looking to return
Junior cornerback Justin Phinisee re-injured a hamstring in the first quarter of the Indiana game, but says he will be ready for Oklahoma.
“There is no diagnosis, I diagnose myself, and I say I’m good and I’ll be ready to go Saturday,” Phinisee said.
The injury initially occurred during fall camp and Phinisee said he may have tried to come back a little early from it.
“I felt pretty confident and it felt good at first,” Phinisee said, “I think my preparation had something to do with it. I didn’t get myself ready enough. So now I need to take an extra step to make sure I make it through the game.”
There is no doubt in Phinisee’s mind that he will be out there against Oklahoma.
“I’ll definitely be out there,” Phinisee said. “It was a slight twinge, but it wasn’t as bad as it was before. I gave it a day or two of rest and I should be ready to go.”
“Our trainers feel strongly that there was not a strain,” head coach Mike Bellotti said. “It was probably a tear of some scar tissue which is typically painful at the time and tends to allow the leg to loosen up. So that is a good sign.”
Because the Ducks are traveling to Oklahoma where the weather will be warmer and more humid, Phinisee said he believes it will benefit him by loosening up the injury.
“As a youngster I grew up in the heat,” Phinisee said. “I love the heat. It’s good on the muscles and better on your tendons, so I’m happy we will be in an atmosphere where it is hot and humid.”

Ngata’s return is a sore one
Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata’s return caught up with him the next day as his injured knee that kept him out of the 2003 season felt the effects.
“It was really sore, but I felt really good during the game,” Ngata said. “It was my first game back so it doesn’t surprise me.”
The stats showed that Ngata’s knee is feeling better as he led the team with six solo tackles against Indiana, including one for a loss.
But as the week of practice goes by, the 6-foot-5, 345-pound sophomore from Salt Lake City said he won’t take it easy because of the importance of this game.
“I’m still going hard. I can’t think about my knee being hurt, because it’s Oklahoma,” Ngata said. “I really don’t care how my knee feels. I just got to play with it.”

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