The Oregon Ducks hit the ground running earlier this month, with a pair of spring practices ending what felt like a long and eventful offseason. At long last, Dan Lanning and his team hit the practice fields at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex and strapped up their helmets early in March.
And then they took another break.
Because of the school scheduling at the University of Oregon, the Ducks held their two practices early in March, but then put things on pause once again as the students went through final exams and spring break. While some might think this elapsed time would cause some slowing of momentum, Lanning told us earlier this month that the time away gave players an extra chance to study what they had done earlier in the offseason and improve going forward.
“I don’t know if there’s a huge benefit,” Lanning said after the Ducks’ first practice earlier this month. “It lengthens that spring window so you get a little bit more time in between to study what you’ve done well and what you can improve on.”
More than that, though, it also gives other players who have committed to the Ducks a chance to get with the team. While Oregon is on the quarter’s system academically, other schools are on either trimesters or semesters, so enrolling in the University wasn’t possible until after spring break.
We know that former Texas A&M receiver Evan Stewart joined the team during this two-week break, and there’s an expectation that Washington transfer Jabbar Muhammad and Duke transfer Brandon Johnson will be suited up for the remainder of the spring season as well.
“There’s gonna be some guys that are able to join us here post that first term that will give us a chance for those guys to get involved,” Lanning said.
While Duck fans got an early taste of football, the past two weeks saw most people tune into March Madness and Dana Altman’s miraculous run to the NCAA Tournament with N’Faly Dante and Jermaine Couisnard.
But now, it’s time for football again, and we will see more from this team starting on Tuesday.
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