Here Kitty Kitty: A Game Plan from Hroniss Grasu

Ashley Young FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

What a weekend for the Pac-12! After one last win over Oregon State in the Civil War, the Ducks have clinched the Pac-12 North title and will now face the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 championship game this Friday. That’s right Ducks fans; it is the revenge game of the decade for Oregon this week. The Wildcats will look to spoil the Ducks’ dreams again — and not just in the championship game, but also eliminating their hopes of reaching the first ever College Football Playoff.

Talk about pressure, right? Not for these determined and tenacious Ducks. FishDuck.com reporter Caleb Couturie was present at a post-practice press conference this morning at the Hatfield-Dowlin complex to hear what center Hroniss Grasu had to say regarding the big game this Friday and his ongoing recovery.

Grasu and Mariota pregame vs Wyoming.

Grasu and Mariota pregame vs Wyoming.

It is an exciting time as the college football season is nearing a conclusion. As a redshirt senior, Grasu unfortunately has had to sit back and watch both his senior night game and the rivalry game against the Beavers in the Civil War.

“I’m just doing whatever they tell me to do,” Grasu said. “Just going in there and doing what I can do and taking it day by day. Today was a good day and I’m hoping tomorrow will be even better.” We hope for the same for the all-star center in his final games in a Ducks uniform.

The Wildcats have managed to stop the Ducks’ championship run for the past two years. However, Grasu gave us an insight into how the Ducks will tackle practice this week and the preparation for a game of this high caliber.

Grasu shaking hands of teammates during Civil War vs Oregon State last weekend.

Grasu shaking hands of teammates during Civil War vs Oregon State last weekend.

“They just played a very good game against us. Credit to them. What they do is not very complicated at all and they do it well. They play very well on defense and have some great players out there with a lot of talent. But, like I said, they are very well-coached. Expect a great game on Friday night,” Grasu explained.

The key for the Ducks: “Just don’t try to do too much. This year’s game, the one that we lost, we just tried to do too much, especially myself … But these guys, we’ll be ready to go,” Grasu said.

“We’ve done a great job ever since that game. We have grown up so much since that game, the entire team not just the offensive line. We have been really pleased in responding to that game in the way we’ve been approaching it every single day,” Grasu concluded.

Hroniss Grasu (55) embraces head coach Helfrich on senior day.

Hroniss Grasu (55) embraces head coach Helfrich on senior day.

Top Photo by Kevin Cline

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

Our 33 rules at the free OBD Forum can be summarized to this: 1) be polite and respectful, 2) do not tell anyone what to think, feel or write, and 3) no reference of any kind to politics. Easy-peasy!

OBD Forum members….we got your back.  No Trolls Allowed!