I’m getting shivers thinking about seeing some new Oregon football; how about you? This is a game thread where we discuss our thoughts before the Spring Game, and also give our reactions to it after the game is over. I will let this set of comments run through Sunday as I did during the football season, so when you get a notion — tell us your thoughts (on the only GUARANTEED TROLL-FREE Oregon site out there)!
What are you looking for? What did you see? How about the progress of Our Beloved Ducks? The list I have of what I’m looking for is long …
My No. 1 concern is on offense — by a mile. Are we showing the “blend” spoken of in a recent press conference? How is the blocking — are we running outside, and are the offensive linemen moving well? Are we Zone Reading or simply handing off?
A little birdie told me that the coaches plan to run a vanilla offense — but really, what would they show that is new? The Gulf Coast Offense? The original Oregon Spread Offense under CK and MH (run for a decade), or the “Plodding Pistol“?Not many secrets here when there is tape of the last two years that tells it all. It seems to me that getting your offensive execution down at this point is most important, but I digress …
What kind of impression are the recruits getting from the Spring Game? Word is, a four star defensive end (on Rivals!) verballed to the Ducks on Friday, and thus the momentum for a big recruiting weekend is in motion. The amount of five star visitors is leaving me mumbling like a stumble-bum when I compare Cristobal’s staff’s recruiting efforts to those of Spring Games past. I so want Coach Mario Cristobal to figure out how to score more points, as I really like him and appreciate what he is doing at Oregon.
Coach Feld fills the sleeves …
After reading a superb primer on the new Andy Avalos defense by Coach Boles (an analysis not seen on any other site), I am excited to see more about how we line up and utilize alignments in different situations. At the scrimmage in Hillsboro, we saw tremendous pressure on the quarterbacks to throw the ball quickly, and I can’t help but wonder how it will be for Tyler Shough going against this new defense. Who is playing the STUD position (see Coach Boles fun article), and who will play the SPUR positions? Can the positions hold up to power running? How about versus the Shotgun offense?
How do the new young-guns look? There are so many questions, and spring is the best time to ponder them! (Well, and then all summer!)
Let’s share our thoughts throughout Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, I will offer a bit of my own in-depth analysis with videos. Time for football, baby!
Charles Fischer (FishDuck)
Eugene, Oregon Top Photo by Kevin Cline
Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 35 years and has written reports on football boards for over 23 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He and his wife Lois, have a daughter Christine, reside in Eugene Oregon, where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years and now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations.
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…
