Well, we're halfway through spring practice, and Moseley has a lengthy update on yesterday's practice. One great thing we've seen so far is how new players are stepping up on the offensive side of the ball. There has been a lot said about Blount, but Jamere Holland has been making an impact. He practiced with the first team, and has been making several nice plays per practice, it seems.
Also, a good battle is developing for the offensive line, with 2 open spots, and this is the subject of Moseley's article in today's Register-Guard. Sophomore CE Kaiser (what a cool name, by the way) has been stepping up, and recently practiced at left tackle with the first string. Kaiser is 6'4" 310 lb. lineman who set the Oregon lineman record with a 374 pound power clean. Sounds like the kind of guy I want at left tackle for the next 3 years. Kaiser is battling mainly senior Jacob Hucko for the position. Hucko has battled back problems throughout his career, which is unfortunate.
Whatever happens, I feel very confident that our offensive line will be at least above average. With the schemes and conditioning used, they should have great advantages again this year. Also, the last few years have seen a great deal of talent at the offensive line, and this shows no signs of stopping, which is great news. The team as a whole might not have as much top flight talent as previous years. But they are very good and deep at a lot of positions (except WR).
Yet, despite all the good news, there is a big area of concern: Quarterback. The play has not been that great. John Hunt from the Oregonian had a profile on the struggles today. I'm not worried...yet. And neither are coaches, who have confidence that the young players will learn from their mistakes. And there is a lot of time between now and August 30th, but still, you'd like to see play improving more over this time.
Also, Darron Thomas was the subject of today's Tribune article, who is still adjusting to the speed of the defense, and the speed of Oregon's offense. He's making progress. However, in Moseley's update above, he said that he would have Harper above Thomas on the depth chart, which surprised me.
In other news, the construction on the basketball arena will begin the early stages today, with the deconstruction of the bakery at the new site.
Update [2008-4-15 13:11:44 by jtlight]: Also, here's some video of the Saturday scrimmage.
GO DUCKS!