Kenny Dillingham shares thoughts on Oregon's spring game quarterback play

Oregon’s spring game brought a level of optimism and intrigue to the program’s passing attack that has not been present for a long, long time.

For months, offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham’s hurry-up, no-huddle scheme has been the talk of the town. On Saturday, Duck fans finally got to see it in action as all three of Oregon’s scholarship quarterbacks were given multiple chances to orchestrate the offense.

There was no shortage of excitement as Bo Nix connected with Seven McGee for a 70-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage, and the offense continued to attack vertically for the remainder of the scrimmage, regardless of who was under center.

When the final whistle blew, the stats for Oregon’s three quarterbacks were as follows:

• Jay Butterfield: 213 yards 16-for-26 passing, one touchdown, one interception
• Bo Nix: 230 yards on 8-of-15 passing, three touchdowns, one interception
• Ty Thompson: 168 yards on 12-of-27 passing, one touchdown, two interceptions

All three players delivered plenty of positive contributions, but all three also had shaky moments.

During his Monday press conference, Dillingham was asked about his general thoughts on the performances of Oregon’s signal-callers.

“We’ve got to get better. I think we put the ball in jeopardy too many times,” Dillingham said. “I think we had two throws that caused interceptions and we had 4-5 misreads where we put the ball in jeopardy when we didn’t have to because we didn’t account for that player with our eyes.

“Any time you don’t account for a player with your eyes, you’re putting the ball in jeopardy because you don’t know who’s back there. … It’s something to grow from, and I think we watch the tape and hopefully get it corrected.”

Dillingham followed up that bit of criticism toward his players with some glowing remarks about the progress they’ve made this spring.

“I love where we are,” Dillingham said. “I think we’ve got a really, really deep quarterback room. I think we’ve got a ton of talent in that room, and I think that they’ve gotten better.

“If you talk to all of them, they all talk about the growth they’ve made just in terms of how they think about the game, the growth they’ve made in pass protection. It’s a completely different way to attack, and I think they’ve gotten a lot better and I’m really pleased with where they are.”

Dillingham said he and Oregon’s coaching staff do not have a date in mind at this point for when they want to decide on a starter.

When asked what each player needs to improve on between now and the start of fall camp, Dillingham provided some insight into what Butterfield, Nix, and Thompson will be aiming to clean up in the coming months.

“There are specific goals,” Dillingham said. “Ty, we’re trying to bring his eyes with his feet more. Bo, we’re trying to not make a bad play worse. Jay, all we’re trying to do is get his drops down a little bit quicker so he can get the ball out a little faster.

“I think they all have an individual goal they can grow off of, and I think they can take that into the summer and they can try to improve and try to grow.”