Oregon football notebook: Starting receiver, edge rusher absent during Ducks' Tuesday practice

Oregon was missing a key player on each side of the ball during its Tuesday practice ahead of Saturday’s matchup at Colorado.

Chase Cota, the Ducks’ second-most productive receiver this season, did not practice and was not seen at the Hatfield Dowlin-Complex. Cota left last Saturday’s win over Cal with an apparent injury midway through the first half and did not return.

During his Monday press conference, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was asked about the health status of Cota, as well as several other players.

“To be determined,” Lanning said. “All those guys are working to get back. I don’t know how long some of those will go. So, we’ll kind of wait and see. Don’t wanna guess too early.”

The Ducks were also missing star edge rusher DJ Johnson during Tuesday’s practice.

Johnson played one of the best games of his career on Saturday and was honored by the Pac-12 as its defensive lineman of the week after he tallied two quarterback sacks against Cal. He leads the Ducks with six sacks on the year and has been far and away their most productive pass-rusher.

But he was absent during the open portion of last Wednesday’s practice, too, and appeared to be playing through pain on Saturday. He went down with an apparent injury in the second half on Saturday and was looked at by trainers.

Defensive lineman Taki Taimani remained absent as well. Taimani is dealing with an injury that he suffered during the Ducks’ Week 8 win over UCLA. He did not make the trip to Berkeley over the weekend.

Offensive lineman Steven Jones, who has been dealing with a lower-body injury for much of the season, was in uniform and went through pregame warmups in Berkeley for the first time Since Week 2.

Additionally, the same Oregon players who have been dealing with long-term injuries all year remained absent. That includes defensive linemen Popo Aaumavae, Sua’ava Poti, and Maceal Afaese. Reserve tight end Tyler Nanney was also absent.

Other observations

For the first time this season, Oregon receiver Troy Franklin fielded punts during practice.

Franklin, Oregon’s leading receiver and one of the most productive pass-catchers in the nation this season, was back catching punts during the first period of practice.

The Ducks have seen their depth at returner take a hit, as Cota typically gets reps there during practice. Seven McGee was part of the rotation there, too, but is no longer with the program.

Franklin was joined by receiver Josh Delgado and walk-on running back Preston Alford — who was also fielding punts for the first time this season. Receiver Kris Hutson joined that group midway through the period.

At the end of period one, the Ducks broke into their usual “pressure kick” scenario.

This time, Lanning emphasized pressuring Oregon’s punt returners as they fielded punts from Adam Barry, Ross James, and Andrew Boyle.

Franklin took the second rep there and fielded his punt clean while Oregon’s coaches and players worked to distract him.

Alex Bales, who has changed his jersey number from No. 91 to No. 80., took the first punt rep of the day. Adam Barry, Ross James, and Lachlan Bruce also repped there.

Andrew Boyle, who punted twice against Cal on Saturday, worked exclusively on kickoffs.