Spring practice is a time to shake the rust off. In the case of some young players, it’s a chance to rip the bandaid off and see how you can stack up against established college athletes.
For true freshman quarterback Austin Novosad, the first week of spring practice in Eugene was the latter.
Novosad is one of the many young athletes that arrived in camp early in hopes of getting a jump start on his career. Unless injuries occur, 2023 will be a redshirt season for the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder from Dripping Springs, Texas, but being able to get his feet wet in the spring will ultimately give him more experience down the road.
According to head coach Dan Lanning, Novosad has looked good so far, but still has a lot of room for improvement.
“I think he’s really smart. I think that shows with the way he attacks each day and plays,” Lanning said. “I know he wants a couple of plays back today and I know he’s gonna be a guy that cares enough that he’s going to learn from it and so I’m excited about his progress.”
Media members were not allowed to watch more than 20 minutes of the start of practice on either Thursday or Saturday, so we did not get to see Novosad in action. However, I’m told by someone who watched the practice that there were multiple turnovers, and Novosad was responsible for at least one of them.
“He throws a tight spiral, but he needs to deliver it in the right location a few more times,” Lanning said.
Should everything stay status quo with no injuries and no transfers between now and fall camp next season, the battle between Novosad and Ty Thompson to immediately replace Bo Nix in 2024 could be an interesting one, to say the least.
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