Oregon Football Spring Practice: Offensive Line Setting Foundation For Success

Mario Cristobal works on drills with Oregon's Offensive Lineman.Justin Phillips/KPNW Sports
Mario Cristobal works on drills with Oregon's Offensive Lineman.Justin Phillips/KPNW Sports /
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The Oregon Football team is going through Spring Camp and early attention is on solid play of the Offensive Line.

Oregon Football will be different under Head Coach Willie Taggart. In his introductory Press Conference he promised more transparency with the program, and so far that has been true. His coaches have also given some insight into how the program will look and feel entering the 2017 season.

The Offensive Puzzle will be fast paced and one player looked at as the leader during Spring Practice is Running Back Royce Freeman. Co-Offensive Coordinator Mario Cristobal said the experience gained last season by the Offensive Line that has four returning Starters will go a long way this season, “It always helps. It’s like the old school Spiderman…that Spider Sense tell you something is coming., You develop that over time with football. You feel a certain movement is coming. They help the young guys as well..there will be some Freshman coming in. That experience will be instrumental to help the younger guys.”

Cristobal has a simple philosophy when it comes to the overall goal of how his Offensive Line plays. The Line is the most important aspect being up front, making room for the Running Back and also protecting the Quarterback.

"On every single play, we want to send a message to the opponent. We’ve only got one shot on every play to do that. We want to be consistent with that message."

This type of attention to detail was not revealed with the previous coaching staff, but rather assumed. It is nice the coaching staff has the team getting back to the basics of football in the first few weeks of Soring Camp. Cristobal added the team is off to a solid start, but there is still work to be done. “They understand that if we’re going to be successful it’s going havehae to start in the trenches and its going to have to finish in the trenches. Overall we’re progressing – we still have miles to go but we will get there.”

Next: Oregon Football Spring Practice: Taggart Pleased With Offensive Effort

Oregon Football is wrapping up the third week of Fall Camp in preparing for the Spring Game at Autzen Stadium on Saturday, April 29th. (11am PT, Pac-12 Network)