There may have been some bumps along the way throughout the Oregon Ducks’ fall camp, but as the final practice came to a close on Friday afternoon, head coach Mario Cristobal was ready to make an announcement for the second time in less than a month — Anthony Brown would be the starting quarterback going into Week 1 against Fresno State.
While we ended up in the same place, ultimately, there was definitely some indecision over the several weeks of fall camp. Brown, who was named the QB1 heading into August, temporarily experienced some arm fatigue, and the play from freshmen QBs Ty Thompson, Jay Butterfield, and Robby Ashford all warranted a second look at the position as a whole. Following the Ducks’ first scrimmage of fall camp, Cristobal was open and honest about the situation, alluding to the fact that it was a competition once more.
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What happened from there on out could be significant for the Ducks’ 2021 season, with the sixth-year senior showing his poise and keeping his grasp over the top rung of the depth chart. For now, at least, he will trot onto the field with the No. 1 offense and look to lead Oregon in a dream season that many fans have high aspirations for.
But how did we get here? What was it about Brown that ultimately won him the starting job over his uber-talented freshman counterparts?
“The way he handles and has control and command of the offense,” Cristobal said of Brown. “His presence amongst the players at the line of scrimmage; his ability to improvise and sometimes negotiate throws and tough situations; his ability to run the ball as well. He’s been really accurate, and his explosive play ratio has been really high against a defense that I feel is really good.”
The mention of explosive plays is certainly noteworthy, as that was a major factor in Brown seeing the field over Tyler Shough near the end of the 2020 season. While Shough ultimately transferred to Texas Tech over the offseason with an understood belief that the QB1 job was Brown’s to lose, the coaching staff definitely didn’t just give him the starting spot on a silver platter.
“I think he earned it,” Cristobal said. “We’re still going to make it hard on the guy. I don’t think you hand anything over, why would you? Why would you ever create a team and a culture where stuff is just handed over? He’s done that, and he’s been pressed hard. He’ll tell you, I press him hard, really hard because I can’t simulate thousands of people yelling and screaming and that type of duress, so we’ve got to create that in practice.”
There certainly will be a lot of fans screaming and yelling in just about a week’s time as the Ducks open up their season against Fresno State at home on September 4th. A week after that, the real test comes in the form of 104,944 wild Ohio State fans.
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Throughout this summer and this fall camp, Brown has done enough to prove to the coaching staff and his teammates that he is the right man for the job. As they head into the season with one of the biggest games in Oregon history looming a couple of weeks away, the transfer from Boston College gained the trust of his new brothers. Regardless of the fans who wanted to see the freshman phenom take the stage right away, you have to believe that Brown is the man for the job at the moment. The coaches do, and that’s all the convincing you should need.
“Just a lot of credit to him,” Cristobal said. “He’s been through a lot, pretty much across the country. And when you do that, if it’s not real, it’s hard to earn the trust and the backing of your teammates. He’s done a really good job and we expect him to keep going as a leader.”
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