As of Monday, the beginning of Oregon’s third week of spring football practice, the frontrunner of the quarterback competition is about as clear-cut as it was the first week: Not very.
After the team’s scrimmage Monday, head coach Mark Helfrich said the quarterbacks “just didn’t come out with any kind of urgency or leadership.” He described the quarterbacks’ play as “inconsistent” and said the consistency aspect hasn’t come into play for any of them.
“That is not uncommon of a competition-type situation, but that’s also where you’d like to kind of see someone step up, and I anticipate that happening.”
Helfrich said Dakota Prukop and Travis Jonsen are doing things “a little bit more consistently than the others.” He will not name a starter by the spring game on April 30, but said he would like to see one of the quarterbacks “take the bull by the horns” and “[run] the show in practice” in the weeks leading up.
“All the guys have shown glimmers of that, and that just goes back to their own comfort level and confidence in what they’re doing.”
Prukop has said repeatedly he will feel he’s done his job in spring camp if, by the end, he has built strong relationships with his teammates and has command of the offense. He said he’s not waiting around to become a leader.
“Guys and coaches are just looking for someone they can trust, and trust comes from doing your job,” Prukop said. “When they see a guy who’s consistently doing his job — every play, every down — then that’s who’s going to take over.”
The Ducks are in a unique situation in that the three quarterbacks presumably at the top of the depth chart — Prukop, Jonsen and Terry Wilson — have no playing experience at the Division I level. Those three have taken the majority of the repetitions behind center, while the two quarterbacks with playing experience — Jeff Lockie and Taylor Alie — have taken a back seat. Helfrich said Lockie and Alie have been playing the role of “half-mentor, half-wideout,” because drilling more than three quarterbacks at a time is “impossible.”
“That was a tough and easy decision to make — just trying to flush things and move forward.”
While Helfrich continues to search for leadership at the quarterback position, he said Royce Freeman and Charles Nelson, who are not “naturally vocal leaders,” have stepped into that role.
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