Time for Lockie to Fly

Jonathan Cervantes FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Jordan Ingram interviewed Oregon Football’s Jeff Lockie for FishDuck.com at the University of Oregon’s Hatfield-Dowlin Complex.

As Oregon fans and the rest of the country continue to watch Marcus Mariota breeze through the draft process, the reality of him not coming back is finally here. On Wednesday, the Ducks began their second spring practice without Mariota, but a familiar face was there taking snaps and calling plays. The same face that had a court-side seat the last three years to watch the best quarterback in Oregon history play football.

oregon@osu-cw2014_kc-12

Jeff Lockie looks to capitalize from Mariota’s teachings.

The name of this fortunate man is Jeff LockieFor the last three seasons, he got to watch who he considers his “best friend” go from a scrawny little kid from Hawaii to become arguably the most talented player in the entire upcoming NFL Draft. But that’s all a thing of the past now, as Lockie begins to embark on his new journey to becoming the Ducks starting QB.

Spring practices will bring out the best in all four quarterbacks on the roster, with each of them wanting to be the next great Ducks’ quarterback, but it is Lockie’s job to lose. He has been in the program for three years now and, when compared to all the other quaterbacks, Lockie is light-years ahead of them all when it comes to knowing the offense and the playbook.

When asked about having to take command of the locker room and weight room this season, Lockie’s response was “It’s a big responsibility of mine to take that weight upon my shoulders, I’ve been here for three years, and I think I’m ready for that.” He also goes on to say that the younger QBs have been looking to him for guidance as they start their collegiate careers.

wyoming@oregon2014_kc-151

Jeff Lockie breaks a tackle to get into open space.

Lockie was also asked about the search for a new center is going with the loss of Hroniss Grasu to the NFL. He responded with “Good,” then later stated that everyone from Jake Pisarcik to Matt Pierson have been getting some reps in – even the impressive freshmen, Zack Okun, who is 6’5 and 325 pounds from Newbury Park, California. With the new pieces being put in place this Spring on the offensive side of the ball, Lockie’s experience could put him atop the depth chart heading into fall camp.

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!