Scout team is an aspect that is often overlooked among all the chaos of Oregon football, but is something that is “vital” for the Ducks’ success, according to head coach Mark Helfrich.
Throughout the season, the scout team has attempted to emulate certain players, playing styles and overall offenses and defenses to be best prepared for game time.
One player in particular, has had a key role in doing his best job to mimic standout athletes from the opposing team.
Redshirt senior Jarret Lacoste has only accumulated 57 yards on offense this season, but he has had a profound impact behind-the-scenes.
Prior to playing Stanford, Lacoste simulated 2015 Heisman finalist Christian McCaffrey’s style of play. Leading into the Civil War this Saturday, he will mirror the playing style of Oregon State standout Ryan Nall.
Nall, a redshirt sophomore, has been dealing with a foot injury as the Beaver’s starting running back. Despite injuries, Nall led the team in rushing with 23 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown on Saturday against Arizona. On top of that, he had two receptions for 15 yards and another touchdown to guide the Beavers to a 42-17 win at Reser Stadium.
He is someone who the Oregon run defense must stop if the Ducks want a shot at winning on Saturday, and Lacoste is the guy to help them prepare.
“I need to imagine that I’m another 20 pounds bigger,” Lacoste said. “So I’ve been told to make sure I’m running very hard. He’s very downhill, he doesn’t mind taking on the contact and he’s also like a second effort kind of guy where he’s still got his legs pumping even after he takes his first hit.”
Compared in stature, Nall is listed at 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 243 pounds, while Lacoste is 5-11, 214 pounds. So, he technically would need to rack on about another 30 pounds to be equal in weight to Nall, but Lacoste makes up for the weight differential in his practice mentality.
“The coaches talked to me about doing that mentally when I’m running the ball – be like him and be pushing hard, hard, hard to make the defense really work for it.”
This week is not the only week that the scout team has played a significant role. Prior to playing Stanford, as well as Utah, Helfrich commended how the scout team performed in practice.
“Our scouts on both sides have done a really, really good job this week,” Helfrich said leading up to the Stanford game. “That’s a huge deal when you’re playing a team like this who has certain things that they do exclusively from certain whatever. Whether it’s a look, a formation or a personnel group, that’s really important to simulate that as best as possible.”
While the Ducks weren’t able to stop McCaffrey in its 52-27 loss on Nov. 12th, it was a different story when the Ducks matched up against No. 12-ranked Utah on Saturday.
Leading into the Utah game, Helfrich was extremely happy with how the scout team was playing.
“I thought that the defensive line today, was really good as a scout team — that’s obviously big,” Helfrich said days before the Utah game. “Those guys create so much havoc.”
Senior offensive lineman Cameron Hunt thinks that the scout team is “very important” and counted on the scout team to prepare for Utah’s defensive line.
“[Utah does] a lot of schematic things with different blitzes and they’ve got some really good defensive linemen, so we’ve got to work that on practice and hopefully our scouts get a good look,” Hunt said.
Whatever it was that the scout team did to help prepare the Ducks’ offensive line for Utah, it made an impact. The Oregon defense held Utah to 5-of-12 on third downs and helped the Ducks win 27-24. This is a vast improvement for an Oregon defense that has become one of the worst in the country.
Oregon hopes that its scout team preparation carries over to this weeks highly anticipated Civil War matchup, where the Oregon run defense will be put to the test as they see if Lacoste’s Nall impersonation truly paid off.
“I know I don’t get to see the field too often,” Lacoste said. “But I know putting in my time here during the week really feels good, because then it comes to game time and I see Nall running and when he gets stopped up the middle, I’m like, ‘Oh, good,’ because you guys did that to me all week and I got beat up for that. So I’m glad that you guys hit him too.”
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