Chantel Jennings, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Three takeaways from Oregon's spring game

The Oregon Ducks closed up their spring season last Saturday at Autzen Stadium with team Mighty Oregon outscoring team Webfoots for a final 21-20 margin.

Spring games are tough to judge because so many players are held out, quarterbacks are off limits and both sides know what the other side will likely do, so take every spring game with a grain of salt. That said, here are three takeaways from seeing the Ducks' scrimmage this weekend:

1. There are too many offensive weapons: Midway through the third quarter I thought to myself how good the run game had looked so far. Then I realized that Royce Freeman hadn't actually carried the ball yet and that the Ducks were holding Taj Griffin out of the game. Regardless of the starter and a top back up being out, I was still impressed with Kani Benoit (14 carries, 104 yards, 1 touchdown) and Tony Brooks-James (12 carries, 75 yards). Wide receivers Dwayne Stanford, Alex Ofodile, Jalen Brown and Devon Allen didn't participate in the spring game, but again, the wide receivers looked impressive. Dillon Mitchell (7 catches, 104 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Charles Nelson (four catches, 35 yards) were strong for the Mighty Oregon team while tight ends Johnny Mundt (5 catches, 35 yards) and Pharaoh Brown (3 catches, 43 yards).

You know that skill positions are ridiculously deep when six players can either not play or not contribute at their typical position and the group still looks great. “I think it's the most depth we've had since I've been here at all the skill spots,” offensive coordinator Matt Lubick said. “As a coach that's exciting.” Lubick explained that having that much depth at running back, wide receiver and tight end has made it fun for him in his first season as coordinator because he has told the players that they'll be the ones that decide which is the best position group, and that will be the position group that gets featured the most in the offense next season. Two tight end line ups? Sure. Four wide receivers and pull a Wazzu? Why not? A few backs out there? Yep. The Ducks have the depth for it all. Now it's about those players proving to Lubick why they should be the featured unit.

2. The quarterback battle is far from over: Most had anticipated that this was Dakota Prukop's job to lose. Now it appears as though it might be a bit closer than that. Maybe it was play calling or something else, but Prukop really didn't look to stretch the field too much as we saw him mostly get rid of the ball very quickly with some shorter throws. Travis Jonsen, on the other hand, took some shots (some of which were way off), but he showed a better understanding of the playbook. Prukop ended the day with 190 yards and two touchdowns while Jonsen finished with 188 yards, one touchdown and one interception. We'll have more on this later this week, but right now this position is very open.

3. The defense will have good tape after Saturday, Hoke probably ends up with D-ends: At least that's what Brady Hoke's biggest immediate takeaway from the spring game was … that he'd have good tape. “This will be good to evaluate, good to learn from,” Hoke said. “Now we have enough cut ups of us doing us, so that's real positive.” Hoke will have a chance to see a lot of different players getting after quarterbacks -- both linebacker Paris Bostick and defensive lineman Austin Maloata recorded two “sacks” (some of the sacks were rather generous calls) while five other players recorded a sack a piece. So what's the biggest takeaway from that? Hoke has got a group of guys who have potential to get after Pac-12 quarterbacks. On Saturday he said he'd wait until the fall to truly decide which position group he'd take to coach, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him go with defensive ends to make sure that progress gets made. He has the talent and potentials. He loves coaching on the D-line. Makes sense for him to put his roots there.

^ Back to Top ^