Observations from Oregon's ninth spring practice

ScoopDuck writer Charlie Folkestad contributed to this report

Oregon’s ninth Spring practice was the first moved inside by weather; the rain splashed down while the Ducks stayed dry inside the Moshofsky Center.

Energy was high as voices and music echoed off the walls. Players went through warm-ups and drills before moving to “fastball” — an 11-on-11, two-minute situational drill.

In position drills, Jeffrey Bassa looked to have an extra step. He went full-speed and had some big hits on ball carriers in a 2-v-1 tackling drill. Adrian Jackson also laid a mean hit on Sean Dollars, which got running backs coach Carlos Locklyn pretty heated (“This is football, it ain’t tennis!”)

Locklyn chewed into Byron Cardwell for not being aggressive enough on one rep. The sophomore responded by laying the lumber on his next pair of tacklers.

Noah Whittington had a nice move to evade both his defenders and even walk-on Kilohana Haasenritter won praise from Locklyn for his aggression. Later in that same drill, Noah Sewell put a massive hit on Whittington. 

Near the end of the portion of practice that was open to reporters, the team broke into “fastball” during which the offense and defense consisted of three units apiece. 

They were as follows: 

First unit 

Offense

Quarterback: Bo Nix

Running back: Byron Cardwell 

Receiver/tight end:

• Dont’e Thornton
• Troy Franklin,
• Terrance Ferguson
• Seven McGee

Offensive line (L-R): Steven Jones, T.J. Bass, Alex Forsyth, Ryan Walk, Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu

Defense

Defensive backs:

• Darren Barkins
• Christian Gonzalez
• Jamal Hill
• Trikweze Bridges
• Bryan Addison

Inside linebackers:

• Noah Sewell
• Jeffrey Bassa

Outside linebackers:

• Bradyn Swinson
• Treven Ma’ae

Defensive line:

• Taki Taimani
• Sua’ava Poti

Second unit

Offense

Quarterback: Jay Butterfield

Running back: Noah Whittington

Receiver/tight end:

• Chase Cota
• Isaiah Crocker
• Spencer Webb
• Kris Hutson

Offensive line (L-R): Faaope Laloulu, Marcus Harper, Jackson Powers-Johnson, Charlie Pickard II, Dawson Jaramillo

Defense

Defensive backs:

• Avante Dickerson
• Jahlil Florence
• Donovan Dalton
• Bennett Williams
• JJ Greenfield

Inside linebackers:

• Keith Brown
• Jackson LaDuke

Outside linebackers:

• Jabril McNeill
• Jake Shipley

Defensive line:

• Keanu Williams
• Maceal Afaese

Third unit

Ty Thompson led the third unit offense with a group of reserve linemen, some of whom are not listed on Oregon’s roster. Thompson worked with a group that featured La’Vaughn Luellen at running back, Tyler Nanney at tight end, and Justius Lowe, Isaiah Brevard and Josh Delgado at receiver.  

The third-team defense included Anthony Jones, Harrison Taggart, and DonJ’rael Brooks. All other players were either walk-ons or unlisted.

Injuries

The following players were not in full pads and worked off to the side on rehab and mobility drills:

• Popo Aumavae
• Brandon Dorlus
• Daymon David
• Justin Flowe
• Dontae Manning
• Keyon Ware-Hudson
• Michael Wooten
• Bram Walden
• Cam McCormick

After he was seen leaving Saturday’s practice in a wheelchair, Manning was in a bulky left knee brace on Thursday. He went through warm-ups slowly, in a helmet and pads, as did Ware-Hudson. Flowe participated as much as he could in drills, but stopped short of full contact.