Spring Football: Halfway there

With a sudden switch back to wintry weather this week, Oregon moved their spring practice indoors to the Moshofsky Center as they began the second half of spring football.

In an interesting development, the battle for the starting quarterback spot may not be as easy to predict as originally thought.

Initially, Auburn transfer Bo Nix was taking reps with what appeared to be the first string offense. Then, it was Ty Thompson under center with the same group.

New head coach Dan Lanning, however, insisted that there was not, in fact, a first or second string offense in spring drills, simply one group starting before the other. So, in that sense, Nix was the one initially working with the group that went first, then the following week it was Thompson.

Make of that what you will.

Though Nix clearly has the edge in experience and in-game performance, Thompson is taking the competition very seriously, and the redshirt freshman will be attending the Manning Passing Academy to sharpen his throws.

Lanning noted that at this point, the coaching staff was mostly finished with their installation of new concepts and were more focused on perfecting techniques.

Oregon worked on a 4-minute/2-minute drill scenario, in which the offense tries to milk the clock with a lead starting at four minutes and if the defense is able to get the ball back, a 2-minute drill is initiated in which the offense must score. On Tuesday it was the offense that came away with the “win”, picking up a first down to successfully bleed the clock under two minutes.

The Ducks will practice again on Thursday, most likely again inside “The Mo” as the dreary weather continues to hang around.

Next week, Oregon will have two more practices before the Spring Game at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. Following that, they will hold one final practice and hang up the cleats until fall camp begins in August.