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Oregon football notebook: Ducks continue to get healthy ahead of Week 9 showdown at Cal

Jarrid Denneyby:Jarrid Denney•10/26/22•

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Jarrid Denney/ScoopDuck

The open portion of Oregon’s Wednesday practice brought a positive development for the Ducks’ long-term offensive line depth: Steven Jones, who began the year as the team’s starting right guard, was seen without a walking boot for the first time in over a month.

Jones started for the Ducks during their Week 1 loss to Georgia and Week 2 win over Eastern Washington, but left the EWU game with an injury and has not played since.

In the weeks that have followed, Jones has been wearing a walking boot.

On Wednesday, though, he was seen entering practice without a boot and was moving well while doing mobility work along the sideline.

Aside from Jones, there wasn’t much new in the way of injury news that emerged from Wednesday’s practice.

Edge rusher DJ Johnson was absent from the portion of practice that was open to reporters after practicing on Tuesday. Tight end Tyler Nanney and offensive lineman Kanen Rossi were both absent for the second day in a row.

Sophomore running back Byron Cardwell was suited-up during practice but did not partake in drills during the portion of practice that was open to reporters. Cardwell’s right ankle was taped.

Defensive linemen Popo Aumavae, Maceal Afaese, and Sua’ava Poti were all absent as they continue to work their way back from long-term injuries.

Other observations

During the second period of practice, Oregon went through its usual “fastball” drill, which is an 11-on-11 drill with an emphasis on offensive tempo.

Bo Nix led the first-unit offense and completed short passes to Bucky Irving, Kris Hutson, and Chase Cota.

Ty Thompson led the second drive and worked against a second-unit defense that featured Justin Flowe, Dontae Manning, and Jahlil Florence. After a couple of short runs, Thompson take a deep shot to Kyler Kasper and delivered a nice throw, but one that was slightly out of reach for the freshman receiver.

While orchestrating the third-unit offense, Jay Butterfield delivered the longest play of the period when he linked up with Josh Delgado for a deep completion.

During period one, the Ducks went through the usual warmups and special teams drills. Irving, Sean Dollars, Noah Whittington, and Jordan James all received kickoffs, while Hutson and Delgado returned punts.

During the “pressure kick” portion of period one, Adam Barry, Ross James, Andrew Boyle, and Alex Bales all punted. None of the four delivered particularly strong reps, with Bales’ serving as the best of the four.

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