Kung Fu Master and defensive sage Nick Aliotti says the newcomers are making progress, but they’re not quite ready to run through the tunnel after a week of practice.
He told A.J. Jacobson of Duck Sports Authority,
“I don’t put a lot of stock in the young guys right now until they have arrived. When they snatch the pebble like Grasshopper in Kung Fu, then they have arrived.”
Get a grip: veteran defensive coach Nick Aliotti wants to see more consistency and a firmer grasp from his young defenders (sbnation.com photo).
The Ducks practiced in full pads for the first time on Friday, with the added incentive of a scored competition day between offense and defense. Rob Moseley of goducks.com reported the action came down to the last play of practice. “The score was tied 68-68 for the final snap,” Moseley wrote, “And Josh Huff took a pitch to the house, but a celebration penalty was called and the defense was awarded a 68-59 win.”
Huff made the mistake of tossing the ball into the air after the td. Erstwhile players’ coach Helfrich swooped in for the teachable moment, assessing a 10-point penalty that gave the Kung Fu Fighters of the defense a nine-point win.
The point of Competition Days is to create extra intensity and incentive for practice, and it looks that by all accounts it was a big success. Helfrich singled out Ricky Havilli-Heimuli and Avery Patterson, saying both of them are making “a ton of plays.” Double H, the coach noted, looks mobile and fit, the most comfortable he has in four seasons in terms of his health and energy. Patterson’s made a strong recovery from a late-season knee injury, surgery and rehab. His return means a deep and physical secondary has its full arsenal of hitters and robber barons roaming the airwaves, and that’s good news in the pass-happy, offense-forward PAC-12.
Helfrich praised the energy he saw throughout the session, especially from the defensive line. He said the receivers, though, had too many drops.
Marcus Mariota broke two long runs in Friday’s play and tossed a touchdown pass to Daryle Hawkins. Moseley said the passing game was ragged, especially earlier in practice. But that’s normal for the first week. A passing attack takes timing and coordinated effort. The line has to block, the quarterback has to deliver on time and on target, and the receiver has to complete the play.
With 21 days until kickoff, the passing game has to get sharper. Receivers coach Matt Lubick told Jacobson that he’s confident they’ll get there, and that he’s especially pleased with Josh Huff, the returning leader among receivers.
“Josh has tremendous passion,” Lubick said. “He is very hungry. He is always a passionate player but I think his hunger is one more notch higher going into his senior year knowing that we are depending on him as a leader. The passion he plays every rep inspires our younger guys.”
Not everyone has the same love of the pass that Lubick does. Some coaches have to be convinced.
Legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, who disgraced himself late in his career beating up an opposing player on the sideline after an interception, used to say that three things can happen when you pass, and only one is good. Hayes preferred to keep the ball in the bellies of his strong, shifty Big-10 tailbacks. One of them, Archie Griffin, is the only player to win two Heisman trophies, in 1974 and ’75.
Griffin is 58 now, and the current Buckeyes run the spread offense under Urban Meyer. Blessed with a soft out-of-conference schedule and a diminished league slate, dual-threat quarterback Braxton Miller could win a Heisman of his own, as OSU is a threat to go undefeated and cut everyone else’s national title chances in half. Teddy Bridgewater and Louisville could do the same thing, as they are even money to go undefeated in the cream-cheese-soft Big East.
The Cardinals added well-traveled tailback Michael Dyer to the roster last week, and he’s immediately eligible after sitting out a year of football to work on his grades. Louisville coach Charley Strong instituted a zero-tolerance policy for the mercurial, elusive Dyer, who was dismissed from both Auburn and Arkansas State after issues with guns and drugs. If he stays on track he’s another on-field weapon for a loaded offense in a weak league. Bridgewater could rack up RGlll-type numbers.
Thankfully, the Ducks’ biggest problem in the backfield so far was a hard bump on the head. They have two Heisman candidates of their own in Mariota and De’Anthony Thomas, who was back at practice today and running pass patterns, much to the relief of fans who got a scare when DAT was reported leaving practice early Wednesday with the assistance of a trainer.
“The season is here,” Thomas told Oregonian reporters. Wednesday was nothing more than a hard fall, he said. He’s fine now. Good news for fans that are prone to panic, or writers with a quick trigger on the send button.
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