12 notable quotes from OC Kenny Dillingham ahead of Ducks’ second scrimmage
For the second time this season, the Oregon Ducks are going to take things inside the walls of Autzen Stadium on Saturday and line up in a more game-like setting to let the players loose and show was they can do.
We are just about two weeks away from the start of the season against the Georgia Bulldogs, and the Ducks are getting short of opportunities to prove what they’re capable of.
Ahead of Oregon’s inter-squad scrimmage, media members had a chance to meet with offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, who discussed TK.
Here are some of the most notable quotes from the media availability:
QB Improvement
Question: Where do you most want to see the quarterbacks improve in Saturday’s scrimmage?
Dillingham: “From an improvement standpoint: operating. When bad things happen, do we make a bad play horrible?I think that’s what separates great quarterbacks. It’s not necessarily the great plays that make SportsCenter, but do your bad plays make SportsCenter? When your bad plays don’t make SportsCenter, that’s when you’re a great quarterback.”
Unanswered Questions
Q: Are there any questions you have about this team that are yet to be answered?
Dillingham: “I think guys just continuing to operate and what guys can be consistent. I mean, we’re always talking about if you want to be a great player, or if you want to be counted on you got to be consistent. So we’re looking for consistency across the entire board. This is only our second scrimmage so we’re excited to see what players can show up again, and be consistent when the lights are on.”
Young Players
Q: Where do you look to see the young guys improve in the scrimmage?
Dillingham: “Growth, and not making the same mistake twice. Can you go out there, can you make a mistake that you did last scrimmage, and can you correct it when the coaches aren’t out on the field helping you? You know, sometimes when you’re in a live setting, in a scrimmage setting, you know things can get overwhelming because there’s nobody there to help you when you look around, right? We’re looking for the guys that you know when the situation is big when they have nobody to help them, do they take a deep breath do they play fast?”
Timeline for a Starter
Q: Will you have enough data points after the scrimmage to feel comfortable naming a starter?
Dillingham: “To be honest, I don’t know. I mean I think that’s just gonna happen when it happens.
Offensive Improvement
Q: Where do you want to see the offense improve as a whole on Saturday?
Dillingham: “I want to improve on our tempo, you know. We’re not playing at a very fast pace right now. It’s not really who we are, you know by words. We got to play a little bit faster. There’s something that I would like to see. I’d like to see us take care of the football more with the ball in our hands. And I think we’re a little bit too loose with the balls. I want to see ball security and I want to see the players a little bit better tempo.”
Collaborative Effort
Q: What is your philosophy on coaching with a collaborative effort and getting other voices in the room?
Dillingham: “I learned from a young age that you know the smartest people listen the most. So I mean, this isn’t just me coming out there being a dictator. This is listening to the players. What are signals going to be? Listening to the quarterbacks, what plays they like and are comfortable with; listening to players on the roster saying ‘I like this route, I’m good at this route; I like to run double moves; can I run it this way from the cut split right; I have better leverage from that standpoint.’ Right? So I think the more you listen, I think you reap the benefits of using a lot of people’s intelligence and people think it’s you when in reality, you’re just not being stubborn.”
Self Improvement
Q: Players aside, where do you want to improve as a coordinator on Saturday?
Dillingham: “I think sometimes you get in a rhythm with comfortable calls. You know, I want to put myself in challenging situations to where we’re calling complex calls in the middle of drives, not just on P-and-Tens, but we’re calling really complex calls for a defense that aren’t just tempo calls where you almost get in a rhythm because you’re gonna drive and try to play fast. Really stopping ourselves and getting us into the best call possible on certain situations.”
Troy Franklin
Q: How has Troy Franklin’s improvement progressed over fall camp?
Dillingham: “I think that’s a guy who’s been consistent. That’s a guy who’s bulked up a little bit and that’s a guy who’s putting in the work. You know every single day we kind of gotten the same guy, the same guy, the same guy, and that was one of the biggest challenges I said to the offense before is you know the quarterback is gonna throw to the people that they’re comfortable with and that they trust on third downs. And that’s what wins or loses football games is third downs and red zone. So are you a guy that the quarterback trusts on those downs and I think Troy Franklin is, you know, slowly proving that he’s a consistent guy.”
A Changing Receiver Room
Q: Where do you think the state of the WR room stands after so much change this offseason?
Dillingham: “I do think we’re in a good place. I think the guys are hungry and they’re connected. The guys are helping each other. I think that’s the biggest growth right now is if they’re not on the field, and there’s a young buck and you see Dont’e Thornton and Troy Franklin jogging behind Seven McGee trying to get a guy lined up, trying to help them, right? They’re communicating with each other. So if one person, you know, doesn’t get the signal, you can see the communication. So they all get it right. Coach Lanning, he talks about, you know how your voice, right how loud you say something is confidence, right? And if you know you’re right, if you have confidence in something, say it with your chest. So everybody believes you everybody is with you. And we’re all on the same page. And I think those guys are really buying into that message to get out and guys.”
Competitive Balance
Q: What’s the health of the competition between the offense and defense like in practice?
Dillingham: “I think it’s healthy. I mean, I think we’re competitive as crap. I think they’re getting after it every day. But I think we have a really good balance that we all understand. We’re all on one team. You know, we don’t want guys on the ground in practice. We want to keep guys up. We want to keep them healthy. We want to find that balance where we can go to work and be physical. Right. We’ll keep you guys up and I think our guys have done a great job getting better at that throughout fall camp.”
Consistency on OL
Q: With some minor injuries in camp, how close are you to finding a consistent rotation on the offensive line?
Dillingham: “I think we’ve got a few moving pieces still for that. But I think we’ve got a good crew of people who we feel really really comfortable with, some young, some old. But that goes back to the veterans in that room who are doing an unbelievable job just bringing people with them because they had to by default. You know fall camp you’re gonna have nicks and bruises. So those veterans were playing alongside some young bucks and they were trying to help them get them lined up, help them make the calls. So I feel I feel good about the depth in that room.”
Gary Campbell
Q: You had legendary Oregon RB coach Gary Campbell at practice on Thursday. Were you able to pick his brain at all?
Dillingham: “I mean, that’s awesome. This place has so much history. We want the history here. We want the players, we want the coaches, we want the history here. And anytime you get a guy who’s famous in this profession, somebody who’s a legend, right, and he’s in front of you, you know, it just really puts it in perspective how lucky every coach is, how lucky every player is to put on that uniform to walk in this locker room. And just it’s a blessing to have these guys around. And, you know, it’s just a reality check that you know, wake up, and it doesn’t matter how early you have to wake up. You should be happy you get to come work here.”
