In his first media availability since the Ducks’ scrimmage on Saturday, head coach Dan Lanning addressed the state of his football team as spring camp nears its tenth practice.
Here are some of my top takeaways.
1. Losing Keith Brown is bad, but not awful
Despite losing linebacker Keith Brown to the transfer portal Saturday afternoon, Lanning remained optimistic that his linebacker group is still strong, deep, and competitive.
"I think we’ve got a lot of football players that can play,” Lanning said. ”Especially defensively, right now (we) have a lot more depth than we did last year.”
Brown was expected to compete for a starting sport this season. With his departure, even more pressure falls on converted safety Jeffrey Bassa, who in 2022 had 62 tackles in 13 games.
Bassa will be joined at linebacker by transfers Jestin Jacobs (Iowa) and Connor Soelle (Arizona State).
2. A lot of defensive players are practicing at multiple positions
Referring to Soelle and Jacobs, Lanning stated that both not only have an opportunity to now start at linebacker, but also on special teams, where the Ducks struggled a year ago.
“Both of those guys are productive players. I think we have a lot more special teams value in those positions than we had last year,” Lanning said. “We want starters to be able to play on special teams for us.”
3. Expect Oregon to pursue more tight ends
Last season, Terrance Ferguson’s five touchdowns were good for second on the team. Ferguson returns alongside Patrick Herbert and true freshman Kenyon Sadiq.
But, with Ferguson missing the rest of spring practice, Lanning named a few players including Josh Conerly Jr. who can help the Ducks bridge the gap on the depth chart.
"A few people. Matayo (Uiagalelei) is a guy that's had history," Lanning said. "(Jake) Shipley is a little dinged up right now but he's a guy that's been able to flip over to the other side. We also got guys like (Josh) Conerly that lined up at tight end last year in a game. I think we got a lot of guys that have some versatility there. But certainly a position that we have a need for and have our eyes open for."
The Ducks recently offered North Texas transfer Var'Keyes Gumms, who caught five touchdowns and logged 458 receiving yards in 2022.
4. Punter still a work in progress
The Ducks ranked last in the Pac-12 in punting last season, averaging only 37.8 yards per punt.
In the final regular season game at rivals Oregon State the Ducks had a catastrophic fumbled punt that put the Beavers on the goal line and later caused Oregon to go for multiple fourth and longs to avoid putting the punting unit back on the field.
"Still trying to find more consistency at the punting position, Lanning said. “We've had some guys that are hemmed up a little bit, but I think we have good experience with (Andrew) Boyle and Cam (Camden Lewis) and different guys that have kicked. [we will] Continue to compete at punt and figure out where we're at there."
Lanning continued hitting on special teams and their progress in year two.
“Ultimately it comes down to one person’s performance on each play and we want to find some consistency on those plays.”
Oregon will return to the practice field on Thursday April 20.
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