Oregon Football Begins Spring Practice With Key Positions To Fill
No matter how long you have been covering a sport, there is always a breath of fresh air built in whenever you start talking about a new season. Preparation for the 2015 season begins today for the Oregon Ducks Football team and I begin my fourth season of covering the Men of Oregon for AutzenZoo. Of course, this season will be a little different with some holes to fill. The biggest one at Quarterback.
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One name has dominated in the offseason with former Eastern Washington Quarterback Vernon Adams joining the Oregon Ducks, but he will not be joining until this summer, which means the Spring Game will feature last season’s backup to Marcus Mariota, Jeff Lockie and the best known at the position.
entering the first day of Spring Practice include a name change and a position change for two notable players entering the season.
Freshman Quarterback Travis Waller will take his Mothers name and be known as Travis Jonsen moving forward and Running Back/Return Man Charles Nelson will move positions from Offense to Defense to help a depleted Oregon Secondary following the departure of Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. He will lineup at Defensive Back where he had some practice reps last season.
While there will be some new faces, others remain the same including Running Backs Royce Freeman and a healthy Thomas Tyner, Wide Receiver Bralon Addison will return in 2015 after spending last season on the sideline with an injury and Doug Brenner returns taking over on the Offensive Line for Hroniss Grasu.
While every team loses talent each year, Oregon finds a way to always be in the mix when the season begins. Time will tell if the Class of 2015 can help this team remain a contender not only in the Pac-12 Conference, but for a National Title.
Spring Practices will run three times each week leading up to the Annual Spring Game on Saturday May 2nd inside Autzen Stadium.