Sione Laulea Recaps Day 16 of Oregon Fall Camp
Oregon Football transfer cornerback Sione Laulea briefly took time with media Tuesday to discuss transitioning to the Power Four level, how he sees the Ducks’ roster, and more.
Below are notable questions and quotes as well as my thoughts at the end.
On adjusting to the Power Four level after his time playing Junior College football:
“I feel like the biggest transition was the playbook. The scheme is definitely a lot bigger than my junior college was but the culture and all the stuff around the team is pretty much the same.”
“The level of competition I would for sure say is higher with our receiver group being so talented but it’s been great. Day in and day out we progress.”
On technical elements that are different from what he’s used to:
“I would for sure say the specifics, the details. I feel like each player has their own different traits in which they can play corner or they can play safety.”
“They (Oregon) do a good job of factoring out those players and figuring out which tools are tailored to each player and what they should use.”
On the toughest matchups he’s faced in spring and fall camp thus far:
“Specifically for me I feel like what’s harder to match up against is when it’s a much shorter and twitchier receiver just because of their smaller frame, they’re quicker at the line of scrimmage so it makes it a little harder.”
On whether it’s harder to play the field or boundary corner position:
“I would say the field. The boundary is not enough space for the receiver to run so it makes it a little easier on me.”
On competition between Oregon Football’s offense and defense in fall camp:
“I’d for sure say it’s off and on. We have great players on both sides of the ball so one day you’ll see us (the defense) up, another day you’ll see the offense up but either way both sides are getting better and it just helps us build off of each other.”
On whether he’s trained at other positions, namely safety:
“Specifically corner.”
Linden’s take:
We got some good information here in spite of the interview being under two minutes.
I wasn’t super surprised to hear that Laulea feels the playbook difference has been a challenge of his transition to the Power Four as multiple players have cited the complexity of Oregon’s system.
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His comment on Oregon’s coaches being good at player evaluation rings true as we’re yet to see a player feel out of place at his position in Dan Lanning‘s tenure.
Shorter receivers being a bit of a matchup problem for Laulea at his listed 6-4 height isn’t shocking.
I suspect Oregon’s coaches will minimize the impact of this by keeping him at almost exclusively the outside cornerback positions this year.
Dovetailing with that was his preference for the boundary cornerback position as opposed to the field.
Players of his size at the cornerback position are typically more suited to operating in smaller spaces than the wide open field side college football hashmarks allow for.
I was a little surprised to hear that Laulea hasn’t spent time practicing at safety but the cornerback spot is a more classical fit for a longer and leaner player like himself.
