Brian Michalowski Talks Linebackers in Fall Camp

Oregon had some great linebacker play in 2023 with players like Jeffrey Bassa, Jestin Jacobs and Bryce Boettcher all playing big roles in the defense. A new season brings some new faces to the linebacker room as Dan Lanning and the Ducks signed a pair of All-Americans in the 2024 cycle and more underclassmen continue to work their way into the two deep.

On Wednesday, Linebackers Coach Brian Michalowski met with reporters in Eugene following practice to share his insight into fall camp.

Question: What do you like? What are you looking for improvement for with your guys?

Michalowski: “It’s been very physical. We’re flying around, we’re playing with relentless effort. We’re doing a really good job attacking the ball, something that we’re extremely emphasizing right now is how we can get more turnovers on defense. All the linebackers are doing a good job punching at the football. What I’m looking for is just continued consistency with the repetitions—I told the linebackers today those repetitions, that’s gonna create the muscle memory for us coaches to know what to expect from them on game day.”

Question: What can you say about Jestin Jacobs and how he’s come back from his injuries and been persistent?

Michalowski: “He’s been extremely persistent, but that isn’t a thought in his mind right now. He’s playing at full health, he’s continuing to work, coming every day with a point of emphasis on what to get better at. He’s a taller guy, so I’m continuing working on his pad level and playing low. We watch a lot of Fred Warner tape and Fred Warner’s a taller linebacker and he plays under the ‘chute a lot. ‘Chute keeps our guys’ pad level low in indy, so just wanna see that continue to improve with him, but he’s playing extremely physical and he’s doing a great job communicating as well.”

Question: What do you hope shows up on Saturday in the scrimmage with your unit?

Michalowski: “It all comes down to—you set a culture on your defense and within in your room and when you lay those expectations you know exactly what you’re looking for every practice, every game. So on defense it’s relentless effort, it’s our guys flying around to the football, it’s ball excellence, it’s us getting takeaways and being aggressive attacking the ball and it’s being a great teammate power of unit. In the linebacker room it’s being a great communicator, getting the defense aligned. It’s being really dominant in our run and pass fits and being where we’re supposed to be. That starts with our eyes and our alignment. And then it’s being really effective rushing the quarterback and affecting the quarterback when we are pressuring.”

Question: What have been your early impressions of Dylan Williams and how he’s picked up on doing all of this in the fall?

Michalowski: “Dylan’s doing a tremendous job. Really spends a lot of extra time with me learning the playbook. Has some really good natural movements that we saw in the recruiting process and to see them in person here has been really exciting for us. He’s sudden, he’s quick, he’s violent, he plays with a tenacity to him. And I’m excited about how that development process will go.”

Question: Whether it’s Dylan, Brayden (Platt) or Kamar (Mothudi), what do you need to see from a true freshman in their first year to see kind of a significant role or play a bit this fall?

Michalowksi: “Again it kind of goes back to the linebacker musts, how they communicate, how they get our defense aligned. Because you just can’t play at linebacker if you’re not communicating, and that’s gonna come with confidence within the scheme. So it starts with just understanding their playbook and understanding when they get out there how they see the formations, how they communicate in real live action. When they check that box they’ll be ready.”

Torres’ Take

It’s good news for the Duck fans to hear that Jacobs is progressing back nicely from his injury and is now full go. A full season of him next to Bassa in the middle of the defense should help this group take that next step forward with two veteran leaders.

Michalowski’s comments on true freshman Dylan Williams are interesting because the original plan was for him to join the team for spring ball, but that didn’t happen. He’s a pretty special athlete that I’ve gotten to see plenty down here in Long Beach. It feels like the growing expectation is that one of the three freshmen trio with see some playing time this year with Platt leading the way. That seems like a great development with Devon Jackson and Jerry Mixon also looking to take their next steps in 2024.