Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich kept it short after practice this afternoon as he touched on the dynamics of running a situational based practice — giving a feel of real game situations — as well as being impressed with the special teams. Helfrich also talked about calling quarterback Marcus Mariota a “cover boy” after making the most recent Sports Illustrated cover.
“Really good special teams periods today,” Helfrich said. “Kickers have been good: Maldonado’s been consistent, Wogan has a really big leg and those guys have practiced well.”
When further asked about what he had seen thus far in regards to Matt Wogan’s range as a kicker, Helfrich seemed pleased and confident.
“Yesterday he made about a 51-ish, 52-ish and had a ton of room,” Helfrich said about Wogan’s range. “It wasn’t a live rush. Today we did a little bit more live rush scenarios and yesterday was just the field goal unit working.”
While Wogan has yet to kick in a real college game scenario, his range in conjunction with the aforementioned comments from Helfrich look to be promising as the No. 2 ranked high school kicker continues to ease his way into the starting rotation.
To cap off the day, both Helfrich and Mariota gave their thoughts pertaining to the recent SI cover.
“I haven’t seen it, but I did give him a bad time about it” Helfrich said. When asked about what he called Mariota following the cover, Helfrich had this to say: “Cover boy and something else on top of that.”
Mariota then followed with his reaction on the cover along with thoughts on being called a “cover boy.”
“I haven’t been anything else but cover boy since then,” Mariota said. “It’s pretty special and it’s a great honor. As a kid, my parents always bought Sports Illustrated and to say that I’m on the cover is pretty cool.”
With the special teams competition beginning to heat up as the season approaches along with Mariota making both ESPN’s Heisman Watch list and the cover of Sports Illustrated, it is safe to say that the Ducks are heading in the right direction.
For live Twitter updates and news following practice, check back here with the Emerald.