Oregon Football begins spring practice

With so much going on at once in the UO sporting world (Men’s and Women’s basketball are in postseason play, softball and baseball are showing promise early in their seasons) it would be understandable if the most popular sport at UO took a back seat, if only for a minute.

However, this past weekend kicked off yet another new era in Oregon Football as head coach Dan Lanning and his staff held their first two practices of the spring football season this past weekend.

Three new transfers who enrolled for winter term were on hand for the practices; defensive back Christian Gonzalez, defensive tackle Sam Taimani, and quarterback Bo Nix. All three could easily find themselves in starting roles in the fall if they have a strong performance in the spring. Recently enrolled freshman recruit Anthony Jones, an outside linebacker, also joined the practices.

Under sunny skies in Eugene, the practices were loaded with intrigue (the starting quarterback battle is officially underway) and changes. Adrian Jackson began practicing at inside linebacker, and Jonathan Flowe moved from outside linebacker to defensive back.

Lanning wants to make sure that small details are being paid special attention. One of his points of emphasis was for players to not just focus on big plays that were made in film study, but to look at the less noticeable pieces that could still end up making a big difference in the outcome of any given play. He asked players to find something in the film that they did wrong, so that it may be corrected, rather than focusing on what went right.

Spring practices will be put on pause while students finish up their finals this week and have their Spring Break the next. Following the return to practices afterward, Oregon will see many more new faces on the field as players who enrolled for spring term will be able to participate.