Bryan McClendon updates status of pair of key Oregon players

As Oregon gets ready for the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma, the Ducks are dealing with some injuries. Coach Bryan McClendon updated the status of two injured players this week.

Offensive lineman Ryan Walk is dealing with a knee injury and safety Steve Stephens has missed time with a “soft tissue injury.” Neither has played since November, and McClendon was asked if they’ve been practicing ahead of the bowl game.

“Not right now,” McClendon told reporters this week. “They haven’t up to this point. Of the guys that have been out, Bennett Williams is the closest to being able to help right now.”

As far as Walk and Stephens’ statuses for the game on Dec. 29?

“They will be questionable, at best,” McClendon said.

Williams was expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a non-contact injury in practice in November. It’s all part of a handful of injuries the Ducks are dealing with ahead of the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma.

Walk hasn’t played since Nov. 6 and Stephens hasn’t seen the field since Nov. 30. The early “questionable at best” designation doesn’t bode well, but there’s still about a week before the game.

Oregon is set to take on Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 in San Antonio.

Bryan McClendon addresses how coaching carousel is impacting Alamo Bowl prep

Bowl game rosters and coaching staffs are always a little different from the regular season, but this year’s Alamo Bowl between Oregon and Oklahoma will be especially jumbled.

On the Oklahoma sideline will be first-time head coach Brent Venables who came to Norman from Clemson. Oregon has a new head coach in Dan Lanning, but Lanning will be with his former team through their playoff run; Georgia plays Michigan on New Year’s Eve in the Orange Bowl.

Ironically, former Georgia wide receiver and Bulldogs interim coach Bryan McClendon is the interim head coach for the Ducks for their bowl, and he took a moment on Monday to comment on the complications that arise when trying to coach a bowl game during such a hectic time in college football. 

“You do your best assuming as possible,” McClendon told a media gaggle when asked about watching Oklahoma film. “They’re going through the same stuff that we’re going through, that a lot of teams are going through in college football.”

The coaching carousel this season has been a wild one, as several of the nation’s top jobs were shaken up. With those moves at the top comes a trickle down effect to assistant coaches. Add in opt outs for players heading to the NFL, and it becomes difficult to predict how a team might look a month removed from regular season play.