It was pretty quiet in the latter part of last week with the Ducks in a bye week lockdown, but practices are now open and we got the quack to get you through to turkey day.
- After not hearing about any injuries over the past week, that was the main story coming out of Sunday's practice. LaMichael James is not listed on the injury report, but admitted to not being fully 100% (video after the jump). The only two players on the injury report are Lavasier Tuinei and Darion Weems, who both didn't participate in practice. And Tuinei could end up missing extended time due to his shoulder injury, which Ken Goe is reporting could force him to miss the rest of the regular season, though this is unconfirmed. It seems a safe bet that the Ducks will be without Tuinei for at least the Arizona game, so we'll need to see Josh Huff, Justin Hoffman, Will Murphy, and Kenjon Barner to step up. Overall, it sounds like practice went well. According to Kelly, the team is "where it needs to be," and have focused on playing sound, fundamental football, which was one of their main problems during the Cal game.
- Oregon held onto the #1 spot in the BCS rankings, and edged further ahead of the pack ever so slightly.
- As we discussed last night, Oregon got it's second commitment of the weekend, this time from 5* MLB Anthony Wallace. This is another huge get for the Ducks, and Wallace will have a chance to make an early impact as a freshman.
- With the season almost over, Aaron Fentress takes a look at the Ducks pursuit of a national title, and compares this year to previous Oregon years when they were in the national hunt. In those others years, something happened to keep Oregon short of their goals, and that still haunts some former players. This Oregon team is more focused than any I've ever seen, and that's shown on the field thus far. Hopefully that'll continue.
- The Casanova Center expansion has been known for a while now, but yesterday the Ducks released the full plans, and it's impressive. The center of the project will be a 130,000 square foot expansion to Oregon's athletic complex, which is an 121% increase on the current size. It will also include a brand new athletic complex for the women's soccer and lacrosse teams. Let's say it all together: "Thanks Uncle Phil and Aunt Penny!"
Got any other quack to share? Leave it in the comments. Also, after the jump, we have some video of Chip Kelly at yesterday's practice, and LaMichael James after practice.
Chip Kelly doesn't let the pressure get to him as he leads practice
LaMichael James after practice