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Fall Ball Takeaways: Phil Knight and Rob Mullens watch on as Ducks add speedy WR to roster

zachary neel
·4 min read
2

The Oregon Ducks have been underway in the 2023 college football season for a week now, but Tuesday was the first time media members were allowed to watch for the first 20 minutes of the session.

With a whole host of new players coming to town since spring ball ended, this offered a chance to see some of the new freshmen and a handful of transfers that committed to the Ducks since the spring game. One addition to the roster on Tuesday came as a surprise. Oregon added one of the fastest men in all of college athletics as a walk-on.

With a chance to talk to head coach Dan Lanning, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, and wide receiver Kyler Kasper later this afternoon following the practice, we will have more coming out this evening about the Ducks’ continuation of fall camp. For now, though, here are the biggest takeaways from the fifth practice of the season.

Micah Williams

Katharine Lotze/Getty Images

Until today, true freshman cornerback Rodrick Pleasant could claim he was the fastest player on Oregon’s roster. He had a 100-meters time of 10.13 seconds in high school.

That claim is no longer valid. The Ducks added Olympic sprinter Micah Williams to the roster. Williams was added as a walk-on wide receiver. He holds the Oregon 100m record (9.91 seconds) and is undoubtedly one of the fastest men in collegiate athletics.

We will see how much Williams actually plays, but regardless of the time he sees on the field, his speed will certainly stand out in practice.

Offseason Bulk

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This isn’t the first time we’ve seen these players since spring, obviously. Whether it was media day or watching them come out of practice each day, we’ve a sense of who put on some weight and changed their bodies this offseason.

However, when you see them in full pads and actually moving on the practice field, it puts them in a new light.

There were a few players that really stood out on Tuesday in that sense. Linebacker Jeffrey Bassa has put on a lot of weight this offseason and looks huge as a linebacker. The same can be said for freshman defensive back Cole Martin, who looks like he added at least 10 pounds of muscle and is a physically capable safety. Brandon Dorlus added 10-15 pounds of muscle, according to defensive line coach Tony Tuioti, and sophomore WR Justius Lowe looked stout on the field as well, which is notable since he was one of the skinnier players on the roster a year ago.

Special Teams Rotations

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As always, we saw a lot of special teams work during the time when media was allowed in practice. Both the rotation for punt return and kick return has grown since the spring. Here’s how they both broke down, in order:

Punt Return

  • Kris Hutson

  • Gary Bryant Jr.

  • Troy Franklin

  • Nikko Reed

  • Micah Williams

  • Tez Johnson

Kick Return

  • Bucky Irving

  • Noah Whittington

  • Jordan James

  • Jayden Limar

  • Rodrick Pleasant

  • Cole Martin

It will be interesting to see as the fall camp goes along if those groups get whittled at all.

Pressure Punt

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It’s clear there is an open competition at the punter position, and the coaching staff is working to foster that. At the end of the special teams period, Dan Lanning called for a “pressure punt” while yelling over the loudspeaker to Luke Dunne that “all eyes are on you.”

Both Dunne and Ross James went through a couple of kicks each while the team focused on them. Lanning has said repeatedly since landing in Eugene that he wants to ramp up the pressure as much as he can in practice so that the players know what to expect going forward in game situations.

Memphis Drill

Photo Courtesy of Zachary Neel | USA TODAY

After breaking into the next set of drills, the offensive linemen and defensive linemen lined up in what is called the Memphis Drill, where a pair of offensive linemen try to block a pair of DL across from them. Here is how the groups were split out:

  • RG Steven Jones/RT Ajani Cornelius
    vs.
    DE Brandon Dorlus/DT Keyon Ware-Hudson

  • C Jackson Powers-Johnson/RG Charlie Pickard
    vs.
    NT Taki Taimani/DT Ben Roberts

  • LG Nishad Strother/LT Josh Conerly
    vs.
    DT Casey Rogers/EDGE Jordan Burch

  • LG Junior Angilau/LT Kawika Rogers
    vs.
    DT My’Keil Gardner/DE Johnny Bowens

  • RG Bryce Boulton/RT Faoope Laloulu
    vs.
    DT Ben Roberts/EDGE Jordan Burch

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire