Tag: 2023 Oregon Spring Game

Photo Gallery: Top photos from Oregon Ducks spring practices, spring game

Photo Gallery: Top photos and moments from Oregon Ducks spring practice, annual spring game.

It seems as though spring just started.

But for the Oregon Ducks football team, the grueling 15 practices, including the annual Spring Game inside Autzen must have felt like a month or so.

Oh, wait. It was a month or so of drills, tackling, and memorizing the playbook in preparation for the upcoming season.

But it wasn’t all work.

There was some fun mixed in as well. A lot of new faces joined the Ducks this spring as well as some who felt it would be better to transfer out of Eugene.

DucksWire was there to capture Spring football in photos as well as the game, which featured some famous play callers by former Ducks who know what they’re doing. It was nice to see Marcus Mariota and Jevon Holland for the fans, but for the current Ducks, being able to talk with those greats is an invaluable experience.

Dan Lanning impressed with QB Austin Novosad’s first Autzen Stadium experience

True freshman QB Austin Novosad was able to get his feet wet in the Oregon offense with the Spring Game and it was a good start.

For a true freshman coming into a college football program, everything can be a bit overwhelming. That goes double for a quarterback, the most difficult position on the field.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said quarterback Austin Novosad handled himself and his situation as well as can be expected.

“He completed his very first ball. I want to go back and watch the rest of his performance, but I thought he was calm, cool and collected,” Lanning said of his possible future starting signal caller.

The Ducks threw Novosad into the deep end of the pool. Ultimately he was 2-of-8 for nine yards, but stats is the last thing the coaching staff will be looking at. Oregon wasn’t going to have Novosad hand it off on every down. It also helps to have a play-caller that is pretty good at airing it out.

“That first series he went out there, I don’t know if you guys realize this, but Marcus (Mariota) was calling the plays for that series. Marcus wanted to throw it every down,” Lanning said. “So I’m sure Austin was fired up about that. But I thought when I saw him, Austin is what we’ve seen all spring. He’s picking it up. He’s starting to grasp it.”

Everyone’s career has to start somewhere and Novosad’s career began on Saturday.

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How Oregon’s spring game attendance stacked up to nations’ best in 2023

Oregon drew around 45,000 fans for its spring game and that ranked favorable among other teams from around the country.

There was a time when only SEC teams would pack their stadiums for their spring game.

Oregon and Chip Kelly changed that with the success of the program and the honoring of the military. The coaches who came after Kelly have kept up that tradition. Over the past decade, the Ducks drew a little over 40,000 fans every April. Slowly but surely, other Pac-12 programs are catching up.

But it’s still a game of catch-up. Oregon still leads the way. Colorado packed Folsom Field because the Buffaloes hired Deion Sanders as a coach. It’ll be interesting to see if that keeps up once he leaves.

We take a look at where Oregon stacked up in attendance in comparison to other teams from around the country. One thing is for sure, though: interest in college football is at an all-time sky-high.

Bo Nix gives praise to new faces along the offensive line

The new faces that make up the offensive line showed some nice early returns in the Spring Game, according to QB Bo Nix.

The highlight of the Oregon Spring Game was the improved defensive unit as they dominated the offense for much of the game, but one group on offense that shined was the line.

There are a lot of new faces along that line and the concern that is associated with that group is warranted. After the game inside Autzen, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix said the concern can be curtailed some.

“I think they do a really good job. There are new faces, but still very talented players,” he said. “You get them going together and they start communicating more and more with more experience and as we go they’re only gonna get better. With that group, the name of the game is just staying healthy and so doing what’s right throughout the season with their bodies.”

Working out and eating right will be the goal for the line this summer as they can work on technique once fall camp arrives. It’s going to be a challenge to replace players like Alex Forsyth, Ryan Walk, T.J. Bass, and Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu. Building chemistry among Josh Conerly, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and others will surely be a very high priority in August.

Protecting Nix will be the No. 1 key for the Ducks to have a successful 2023 season, and based on the talent up front, and the growing chemistry, it shouldn’t be an issue going forward.

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Report Card: Defense looks improved while offense showed flashes at spring game

The defense passed with flying colors, while the offense showed some flashes on Saturday.

The Spring Game brought some interesting things to the forefront. Hopefully, for the Ducks’ sake, the high points will stick around for the season, while the handful of low points will be ironed out in the coming months.

We can start with the quarterback situation. Bo Nix is obviously the top guy on the depth chart, and he played well on Saturday, though the game didn’t call for many heroics from No. 10. Ty Thompson struggled mightily at the start of the game, but he eventually settled in and had a great second half that should give fans some confidence going forward. 

There were several highlights with some receivers, though. When they got the chance, Troy Franklin, Traeshon Holden, Kris Hutson, and Tez Johnson all made big plays and showed off their unique talents.

But Oregon fans should get used to what the Ducks showed them on Saturday as long as Dan Lanning is in Eugene. They saw a dominating defensive attack that snuffed out a good offense and very talented players on that side of the ball.

Here’s our official report card for the 2023 Spring Game.

Photo Gallery: New Ducks and familiar faces steal the show at Oregon spring game

It was a perfect day all around as Oregon held its annual spring football game at Autzen Stadium in front of 45,000 loud fans.

There was a little bit of everything happening at Autzen Stadium Saturday afternoon. Good weather, good fans, good food, and for those who like to watch defense, they were satisfied too.

The Oregon Ducks football team held their annual Spring Game in front of an estimated crowd of 45,000 fans. They saw Bo Nix’s Green Team defeat Ty Thompson’s Yellow Team 23-20 where the weather was sunny and 80 degrees. It was the perfect day to watch a sporting event.

But it was the defenses for both squads that showed out proving this is truly a Dan Lanning program. Both offenses did manage to make some big plays in the second half. Transfer Tez Johnson showed his speed and agility all in one play and Kris Hutson led all receivers with 143 yards and a touchdown.

Oregon also hosted numerous possible recruits, including many 5-stars. It was a perfect scene to show future Ducks what is in store for them should they choose to play football in Eugene.

After watching the festivities at Autzen, some fans meandered over to PK Park to watch the baseball team defeat No. 12 Arizona State 16-10. Here’s how the day went in photos.

Instant reaction: Defense dominated the offense in Spring Game

There wasn’t as much of an offensive explosion for fans to enjoy as last year, with the Oregon defense dominating the day.

After quite a slow start from both offenses in the first half, both the Green and Yellow teams managed to find their way into the end zone in a spring game that was dominated by both defensive units.

Green was ahead 10-0 at the halftime break and went on to take it 23-20.

Bo Nix found Troy Franklin for a 32-yard touchdown with just under a minute remaining before the half ran out. The senior quarterback took several shots down the field to his favorite receiver and it wasn’t until the touchdown that Nix finally hit Franklin in stride.

That was nice to see, but unfortunately, most of the talk after the game was the ineffectiveness of backup Ty Thompson. He threw eight incompletions to start out his day before finding Patrick Herbert for a five-yard gain.

Oregon’s backup did have a better second half, however, as he threw for a couple of touchdowns.

Thompson did drive the Yellow team down to the 7-yard line, but his fourth-down attempt fell to the turf in the end zone, and the half ended with that thud.

While the offenses had a hard time finding their way, the defenses both dominated. There is a reason why Nix couldn’t find Franklin open until late in the first half and why Thompson struggled.

Transfer Tez Johnson made the play of the day as he turned a short crossing route into a 63-yard touchdown thanks to his speed and maneuverability. He

WATCH: Tez Johnson turns on the afterburners for the touchdown

Tez Johnson managed to get the Autzen crowd to its feet with an impressive 63-yard reception where his speed was on display.

Transfer receiver Tez Johnson made his first catch as aDuck a memorable one, Spring Game or not.

The 5-foot-8 receiver formerly from Troy, turned a 10-yard crossing route into a 63-yard touchdown thanks to his speed and agility. Once he was out in the open, Johnson race down the sideline, leaving defenders in his dust, if there was dust.

Then at the three, he pulled out a move seen on the PlayStation, a side juke and then the end zone. If that’s the kind of plays Johnson has in store for the Pac-12, defensive coordinators won’t have a good time in 2023.

The play was especially impressive since the defenses were dominating until Johnson got his hands on the ball.

3-star quarterback Luke Moga commits to Oregon

Class of 2024 quarterback Luke Moga has verbally committed to the Ducks a day before the Spring Game.

Just one day before the Spring Game, Dan Lanning already has a win under his belt.

Proof that recruiting never ends, Oregon received a major commitment from three-star quarterback Luke Moga out of Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix, Ariz.. The news was first reported by Hayes Fawcett of On3.com.

“Oregon is home and I’m going to work every day until I bring a National Championship to Eugene,” Moga said via social media. “Excited to join the Duck brotherhood!”

The move comes as a bit of a surprise. Moga was scheduled to make his announcement on April 28 with the Ducks leading for his commitment, but Moga announced that he was going to delay the commitment. Many believe that the delay was due to the fact that Oregon was picking up steam in the recruitment for 4-star QB Michael Van Buren, who announced another visit to Eugene for this weekend.

Both QBs will be in town for the spring game. Does Moga committing mean that Van Buren holds off? Impossible to know.

Moga chose Oregon over schools such as Miami, TCU and a whole host of others. He becomes the 10th verbal commitment out of the Class of 2024 for the Ducks and the first quarterback.

 

Cornerback Darren Barkins continues the portal entrants from Oregon

Cornerback Darren Barkins becomes the fourth Duck to enter the transfer portal Tuesday, just days before the annual Spring Game.

It’s been quite an interesting day for the Oregon Ducks football program as the seemingly mass exodus into the transfer continues.

This time it’s corner Darren Barkins announcing via  Twitter that he will also be looking for another team to play for in 2023 and beyond.

The sophomore from Spring Valley, Calif. and Mater Dei High School played in eight of the Ducks’ 13 games last season, mostly on special teams. Barkins was credited with three tackles.

A former three-star recruit, Barkins was rated as the 65th-ranked player in the state of California. He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining for his new team.

Barkins joins corner Avante Dickerson, linebacker Harrison Taggart, and linebacker Anthony Jones to enter the transfer portal today.

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