Oregon returned to practice Monday, having survived a comeback bid from Colorado in Boulder on Saturday. While Vernon Adams Jr. was sidelined with a broken finger, Jeff Lockie and Taylor Alie shared reps at quarterback.
Lockie made the start, but was swapped for Alie after his third drive, which resulted in a Royce Freeman touchdown after two plays. Alie then lasted four drives before Jeff Lockie reentered to run the last two drives of the first half. The coaching staff continued to substitute them throughout the second half.
“We went into that game knowing we were going to play those two guys,” offensive coordinator Scott Frost said after Monday’s practice. “The calls kind of varied depending on who was in there, and we stuck with whoever we thought gave us the best chance on that drive.”
Frost said the coaches decision to switch quarterbacks after Alie led the team on a scoring drive was unintentional.
“I think that’s just the way it worked out,” Frost said. “We started off thinking Jeff was going to take two series, then Taylor was going to go in, and that’s what happened. We just kind of rotated from there.”
Neither Lockie nor Alie separated himself from the other, but the tandem got the job done nonetheless. Adams’s back-ups combined to complete 12-of-20 passes for 137 yards. Alie threw the lone touchdown pass, a 43-yard strike to Jalen Brown. Lockie threw the lone interception in the end zone.
Adams said he was particularly pleased with Alie’s performance.
“He said he wasn’t nervous at all, and you saw it,” Adams Jr said. “He went out there and did his thing, made his right reads, got us the touchdown to put it away—and that was huge—and had some good runs. I was very happy for him, and proud of the way he played.”
Adams expressed how tough it is to watch from the sidelines during his senior season. He stressed, however, “I’ve got to be 100 percent before I can go out there.”
A month has passed since Adams broke his index finger. Since then, he’s started against No. 5 Michigan State, sat out against Georgia State, started against No. 18 Utah, and sat out against Colorado.
The coaching staff appears to be playing Adams against tougher opponents and reserving him against the not-so-tough. With Washington State on the horizon this Saturday, whether the Ducks think they can defeat the Cougars without Adams remains unclear.
“I don’t know who one, two and three (on the depth chart) are right now,” Frost said. “We’ll have to find out as the week progresses.”
Alie said the quarterback situation was the same during practice today as it was last week: He and Lockie rotated in, and Adams got some reps as well.
Alie said it’s tough to get into a rhythm when he’s being swapped in and out.
“Definitely early on it’s pretty hard to feel the flow of the game,” Alie said.
Lockie said the quarterback carousel is “not ideal,” and he’s “not sure” what the situation will be moving forward.
No one is.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby