Haloti Ngata and Palauni Ma Sun lined up across from each other during Oregon’s third spring practice Tuesday.
The 6-foot-5, 338-pound defensive tackle and the 6-foot-5, 365-pound guard collided during the lineman drill, creating a noise similar to a small automobile accident.
Ahh, the sounds of football.
The Ducks donned full pads for the first time this spring, leading to a general growth in tempo, intensity and defensive performance.
But while the pace of practice increased, a new offensive system and several young players learning new positions kept things from moving as quickly as head coach Mike Bellotti would have hoped.
“I thought the tempo was OK,” Bellotti said. “There was a lot of learning on both sides of the ball, and that creates some indecision at times. I don’t think our tempo was very crisp. I thought guys were attempting to hustle, but a lot of times guys were uncertain (about their assignments).
“Typically in the spring there’s a lot of ebb and flow about who has the advantage one day and who gets prepared to make up for it the next day.”
Tuesday’s most noticeable difference was the defense. After two days of soft play without pads, defenders were able to play with more aggression and passion during drills.
“The first two days the offense had us on our heels a little bit,” rising senior cornerback Justin Phinisee said. “We couldn’t hit them coming across the middle. (Receivers) do a lot of zigzags and crossing. Putting on the pads, we were able to level them out coming across the middle, and it was key for us to eliminate routes.”
The defense outplayed the offense during an 11-on-11 team drill at the end of practice, creating at least three turnovers and leading to conditioning for the offense after practice.
“I think it’s the mentality of our
defense,” Phinisee said. “The history of Oregon defense is that we’re going to dominate the offense. I don’t care what they run, how they run it or who they’re running it with, we’re going
to dominate.”
One of those turnovers came when sophomore Cameron Colvin caught a pass near the left sideline and turned up field. Senior defensive back Demetrius Spates came up and hit the receiver, stripping the ball. Spates elicited cheers from his fellow defenders when he jumped on the fumble.
The loudest hit of the drill came when sophomore quarterback Brady Leaf’s lobbed pass proved too high for freshman running back T.R. Smith in the left flat. Freshman cornerback Sharrod Davis stepped up and made solid contact with Smith. The two exchanged a few competitive shoves before returning to their respective sides.
Injuries
Senior defensive end Devan Long and senior cornerback Aaron
Gipson sat out of drills for the second straight practice due to injury. Long tweaked a hamstring during the first day of spring drills and is considered day-to-day.
Gipson injured the sternoclavicular joint near his left shoulder on Saturday and has had his left arm in a sling during the last two practices. He is also considered day-to-day. Bellotti said while there’s a chance both players could practice later this week, each will likely sit out until next week.

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