Fall Ball Takeaways: Oregon Ducks prepare for second scrimmage of fall camp
After an intense and physical fully-padded practice on Thursday afternoon that left defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi bloodied, the Oregon Ducks got back after it on Friday afternoon in shells as they prepared for the second scrimmage of the fall season in the coming hours.
While the contact may not have been as prevalent, the intensity was still there for the Ducks, who are now just about two weeks away from the start of the season and their opening game against the Georgia Bulldogs.
In the first 15-20 minutes of practice that was open to media members, we saw some new stretching techniques, a couple of interesting new drills, and another example of QB Ty Thompson’s incredible arm strength.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Friday’s practice:
Player Attendance
As fall camp rolls on, player attendance remains one of the biggest things that media members are able to gain information from. On Thursday, the following players were seen walking into practice after previously being absent:
WR Dont’e Thornton
OL Kawika Rogers (Not in pads)
The following players were not seen walking down to the practice field:
OL Jackson Powers-Johnson
DL Macael Afaese
DL Sua’ava Poti
OLB Jaden Navarrette
Probably the biggest takeaway from this was that Thornton, who is believed to be a starting receiver, was back and seemed to be moving fine during stretching periods and was also participating in minor contact drills. That’s a big development for the Ducks.
Positional Stretching
One of the biggest areas of practice that media members get to watch is stretching at the beginning, and there was some new flavor for Oregon on Friday. Rather than going through stretching lines as a team, the roster was broken into position groups where each position focused on different types of stretching.
For example, the quarterbacks were working with elastic bands and medicine balls and small 5-pound weights. The running backs and receivers were close by working on lower-body stretches, walking voer hurdles and doing a more traditional line stretch. The breakdown of the groups was as follows:
Quarterbacks
Running Backs/Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
Offensive Line/Defensive Line
Linebackers/Defensive Ends
Safeties/Cornerbacks
New Drills
There were a couple of new drills that Oregon showed on Friday. One was with the offensive lineman where a pair of players —usually a center and a guard or a guard and a tackle — would line up next to each other and then on the snap of the ball, work to close the gap between them. To do this, coach Adrian Klemm would slide a blocking pad between their hips after the snap of the ball, which they had to hold together off the ground while blocking forward.
Another drill was for the receivers and running backs to work on ball security. The offensive player would hold a football in both arms and have a defender constantly hitting and swiping at the ball while they ran forward.
Ty Thompson's Arm Strength
The quarterback group split out to warm up their arms and progressively moved further apart as they increased the throwing distance. It was comical to see at one point when Bo Nix and Ty Thompson were throwing together the disparity in arm strength. Media members estimated that the two were about 60 yards apart, and Nix’s throw to Thompson landed a couple of yards short. Thompson returned fire with what looked like very little effort and found Nix on the money.
Does it mean anything in the grand scheme of things or give us a look at who the potential QB1 will be? Absolutely not. It’s always fun to catch a glimpse of the talent that Thompson possesses, though.
