As soon as Patrick Chung declared his intent to return for his senior season, the strength of next season’s football squad became the defensive secondary.
Yes, Jairus Byrd and Walter Thurmond III are more than capable corners, but without Chung at rover there would have been questions about the unit as a whole.
But he stayed, and this secondary looks to be the most dominant green and yellow defensive backfield in over a decade. Add a sprinkling of talented returners like Jerome Boyd at linebacker and Nick Reed at defensive end, with a pinch of promising youngsters like Casey Matthews and Kenny Rowe, and the defense appeared to be the stronger of the two main units heading into spring camp.
And for the first week of drills, that has been decisively the case. Interceptions by the secondary and backfield penetration up front have been hallmarks of the 11-on-11 drills. The offense has gotten off to a slow start – to put it mildly – and were it not for the 47-yard touchdown scamper of transfer running back LeGarrette Blount in Friday’s scrimmage, the offense would have been held to nary a first down.
But the offense may have started to turn a corner early this week, and some key players have started to show up.
Sophomore quarterback Justin Roper has been taking all of the first-team reps in the absence of Nate Costa from contact drills, and is now starting to get closer to Sun Bowl form, as he finally burned the secondary a couple of times in 11-on-11 drills Tuesday. He started practice by throwing two interceptions in the first drills of the day, and ended up throwing two scores to senior wide receiver Jaison Williams in later drills. Coach Mike Bellotti has said from the first day of spring practice that Roper looks comfortable at the helm of the offense, but it hasn’t really shown in terms of results until those two scores.
And part of the credit for the offense’s emergence is Williams. In addition to the two 11-on-11 scores he caught from Roper, he got past the secondary again in 7-on-7 drills and caught a deep slant from freshman quarterback Darron Thomas.
The positive aspects of Williams’ play went beyond highlight reel catches and baffled cornerbacks though, as his run-blocking has been superb this week as well. Roper got the corner on the defense for about a loping 20-yard jaunt down the sideline in practice Tuesday by virtue of a Williams block on the edge. The blocking effort had graduate assistant Eddy Morrissey screaming from the sideline in his in his thick New-England accent, “Yes Jaison, yes! I love where your head is at!”
True enough, coach. And Duck fans had better hope Williams’ head is in the right place this fall; he is the brightest hope for consistent success for a young and somewhat thin receiving corps.
Finally, Blount has given hope for an effective one-two punch in the backfield. The backfield has all the shiftiness it needs, and some feisty play as well, in Jeremiah “The Stiff One” Johnson and Andre Crenshaw. What it lacked was a freight train with a head of steam. Enter Blount, who has been blowing up linebacker and lineman alike with his bruising style. His brutal near-beheading of freshman linebacker Terrell Turner recently would have been one for the ages were it against a conference foe in real competition. Stay tuned for some highlight reel hits from this big boy.
So the offense that Oregon hangs its hat on is starting to take shape. Some positions may be thin, but there is good talent at the top. It’s obviously still a work in progress but with the potential to do some real damage this fall.
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