With a little more than a week until Oregon’s first football game, several questions remain unanswered. Who will start at linebacker? What will the running game be like? Who will be Marcus Mariota’s backup? And perhaps the most lingering question on the minds of many, who will be responsible for kicking and punting?
Head coach Mark Helfrich didn’t address all of these questions after practice Wednesday, but did say that there’s yet to be a decision on the second string quarterback.
“There hasn’t been [any separation]. Even today, Jeff Lockie had a really good morning, a couple really solid periods and made a couple mistakes. And [with] Jake [Rodrigues], really the same thing. They’re congruent,” Helfrich said.
Helfrich added that making a decision on who will backup Mariota isn’t a particularly high priority.
“We feel comfortable with either one of those guys,” Helfrich said. “I hope just for their sake maybe it sorts itself out a little bit, but we wouldn’t lose any sleep over that.”
Regarding linebackers, Helfrich said there have been a lot of impressive freshman at the position, adding that making a final decision on who will play has been and will be, “very tough.”
The first-year head coach talked about the redshirting process as well. He said that some players will make their own decision to redshirt, and others will be redshirted by the coaching staff.
“I’m sure there’s a couple guys that have already made their decision. By this time there’s certainly some natural separation for a second or third year backup and a guy who’s just been here for 20 some practices. That’s when you sit them down and say, ‘Dion Jordan redshirted, and life worked out okay for him.’”
Towards the end of Helfrich’s post-practice interviews he provided some insight into who could be new starters on defense.
“He’s (Tony Washington) practiced really well. He has, Tyson Coleman has, Torrodney [Prevot], Christian French, are all really upping their game. The rest of that linebacker crew, those are gonna be some tough decisions to sort out reps for those guys, to sort out time for those guys.”
Lastly, Helfrich addressed the kicker position battle.
“We just want the ball to go through the uprights. We’ll use seven guys in a seven-man rotation if thats what it takes. Sure, yeah, we’d love one guy to step up. We’d love two guys to step up. We’d love for that to be a difficult decision, and that’s gonna come down to the wire too.”