When Oregon defensive coordinator Brady Hoke was asked if Oregon’s defense had improved how he’d hoped in Oregon’s third week of fall camp, he gave a stark and candid answer.
“No, not at all,” Hoke told reporters after Oregon’s final fall scrimmage. “We’re a long way from being any kind of defense.”
That’s probably not the answer that Ducks fan were hoping for. This is a defense that last year was one of the worst in the country. Granted, there has been a lot of turnover from that 2015 defense, so growing pains are not really a surprise.
Head coach Mark Helfrich was asked later if Hoke was just being a tough grader or if there were real concerns with the defense.
“I think it’s somewhere in between,” Helfrich said. “We weren’t very good today. I think that was mentality more than anything.”
Helfrich attributed the poor performance to a practice change. A few key offensive players did not participate, so the defense “didn’t put their best foot forward” knowing that.
“That isn’t good, but it isn’t some schematic, irreparable thing,” Helfrich said. “They’ll crank it up here on Saturday.”
Helfrich also quickly dismissed the notion that the root of defensive problems stemmed from the implementation of Hoke’s new 4-3 defense.
“It’s not that at this point,” Helfrich said. “We had a couple missed tackles, a couple guys late to get lined up. Kani [Benoit] had a couple big runs, Tony [Brooks-James] had a couple big runs. We had some broken tackles in the secondary from guys just late to line up.
“That’s just urgency — a very, very correctable thing.”
Oregon to announce starting quarterback soon
Coming into fall camp, Oregon hadn’t yet named a starting quarterback. As the third week winds down, the program still hasn’t officially announced the starter under center. The Ducks kick off the season on Sept. 3 against UC Davis.
But that could change soon.
Recent reports have indicated that senior-transfer Dakota Prukop has distanced himself from the other candidates and should be announced as the starting quarterback shortly.
Neither Helfrich nor the program has announced anything yet. But Helfrich did say the Ducks will further discuss their options on Friday night. The coaching staff will inform the team of its decision before the media and general public.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris