Oregon football head coach Mike Bellotti admitted after the team’s spring practice Saturday — the first of the year — that “we’re not in great shape yet.”
“The first drill where we had to move around, a couple of guys’ tongues were hanging out,” Bellotti said. “That’s to be expected and that’s why we do spring ball.”
Four months after a devastating 38-17 loss to Wake Forest in the Seattle Bowl, the Ducks were back on the field in the first of 15 spring practices allowed by the NCAA. There were no pads for this day as the NCAA also prohibits teams from practicing in anything but helmets on the first day.
That will change, however, in upcoming days as the Ducks will don shoulder pads today and full pads Tuesday.
“You always fight the battle, when you’re in helmets only, of pushing the kids to go as fast as they possibly can without risking injury,” Bellotti said.
The practice saw inclement weather with intermittent rain throughout most of the day. That mostly affected the team’s quarterbacks, namely Jason Fife and Kellen Clemens, who are both expected to fight for the starting
position, and received a majority of snaps Saturday.
Bellotti said he liked how both threw the ball, especially in the face of swirling winds which wreaked havoc with passes at times. Both players were just ready to get back on the field after six losses in seven games toward the end of last season.
“It was great,” Clemens said. “It rained on us a little bit; typical Eugene weather. The team is definitely excited to come out here, both offense and defense. We’re ready to go and get the ball rolling. We’ve been waiting a long time with a bad taste in our mouth from the Seattle Bowl.”
“(The Seattle Bowl) lit a fire under our ass in the offseason, so to speak,” Fife said.
Johnny DuRocher, a 6-foot-4-inch quarterback from Graham, Wash., and one of five early newcomers to the Ducks after finishing high school early, also got his first taste of action.
“He threw the ball pretty well,” Clemens said. “He’s picking up really fast. There’s a lot of stuff in this offense to learn. I thought he did really well. I was really impressed for his first day.”
Onterrio Smith and George Wrighster were understandably absent from practice Saturday. Both declared for the NFL Draft after their junior seasons in the month following the final loss of last season. Bellotti has not named a starter at either running back or tight end to replace the two.
However, there are candidates to fill the spots.
Bellotti did not successfully
recruit any running backs during the offseason. However, he does have a group of runners that showed some promise late last season.
In Smith’s absence during a late-season injury, Terrence Whitehead and Ryan Shaw showed consistency, and in Whitehead’s case, an ability to break open a big run. Joining them is Kenny Washington and Chris Vincent, a redshirt last season after transferring from Louisiana State.
Vincent has strong football bloodlines. His cousin, Troy Vincent, is an NFL cornerback.
“I thought they all caught the ball really well,” Bellotti said, adding that he won’t be able to get a true read on the group until they are in full pads. “Everybody that we had in there really did what they had to do today.”
“I’m looking at this and trying to just make plays,” Whitehead said. “Every time I touch the play, every rep I get, I’ve just got to make a play and make the best of it.”
Tim Day and junior college transfer Eddie Whitaker are both battling for the tight end position, with Bellotti signaling out Whitaker for his play during the first practice. Whitaker starred at Los Angeles Valley College last season.
Oregon gets to the field four times this week. The Ducks practice today and Tuesday before taking Wednesday off. They return to the field Thursday, then hold their first scrimmage of the spring
on Saturday.