Tag: Trikweze Bridges

Length and versatility of Oregon secondary expected to be major asset for Ducks

The Oregon secondary may not be littered with veterans, but they have a lot of length and versatility going into 2022.

[jwplayer oSIhhUd1]

A lot has been written about Oregon’s linebacker group and rightfully so. That position group should be one of the best in the country with Noah Sewell, Justin Flowe, Jeffrey Bassa, and Keith Brown with several other outstanding players.

They should be in opposing quarterbacks’ faces all season long. But according to co-defensive coordinator Matt Powledge, on those rare occasions where those linebackers don’t penetrate the backfield, the Ducks secondary isn’t exactly a piece of cake to get past.

Oregon has so much talent in the secondary that’s it going to be difficult to find playing time for all that deserve it. Powledge thinks he’s found a system to remedy that problem.

“We’re trying to dual-train so we can get the five best players out there and at the same time we can build depth at multiple positions,” he said. “It’s been really good this spring. I think they’ve really taken ownership of some things. I think you’ll see a lot of growth from them this upcoming season.”

Growth might be the key word there as Oregon won’t throw out defenders who are significantly smaller than the receivers they’ll be facing. Bennett Williams is 6-foot-1, Trikweze Bridges is 6-3 and Bryan Addison is 6-4. It’s unusual to have defenders that big and it will present a different component other teams will have to deal with and it won’t be fun for them.

“That’s one of the things that’s really stood out with our secondary. You have Bennett (Williams). You have Trikweze (Bridges). You have Bryan (Addison). Those guys are long and can run and are athletic,” Powledge said. “They also have a great a mental aspect that they bring to the game. Their versatility is really going to help us right now.”

[mm-video type=video id=01g0pp56cxv5n8j26prp playlist_id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g0pp56cxv5n8j26prp/01g0pp56cxv5n8j26prp-5beee4f5a8fb45fe17ea0eb8a04a3177.jpg]

[listicle id=22701]

DJ James and Jamal Hill are back, but where do they stand after suspension?

Oregon’s defensive backs DJ James and Jamal Hill are back from suspension, but where do they stand in terms of the depth chart ahead of the season?

Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal announced after practice on Friday afternoon that the University of Oregon has decided to reinstate defensive backs DJ James and Jamal Hill immediately, though they will miss the Week 1 game against Fresno State.

That means that the two can practice with the team, and will likely travel to Ohio State in Week 2 for the Ducks’ biggest game of the season.

This is obviously huge news for Oregon, which has been without two of their difference makers on defense throughout fall camp after the two were indefinitely suspended following an alleged airsoft gun incident that took place early in August.

So now that we have a clearer picture of when both players will return to the field, what does that mean for the defense at large?

Missing fall camp is crucial, and it will arguably take some time for both players to catch up to the rest of their teammates when it comes to getting into football shape. Once that happens, though, will they see the field immediately? Both Hill and James were projected to be starters, with the former at the safety position, and the latter at the boundary cornerback spot.

Let’s talk about James first. The third-year player has played in 13 games in his career, with 16 total tackles and two passes defended. Once it was clear that he was going to be absent for fall camp, the attention turned to both freshmen cornerbacks Dontae Manning and Trikweze Bridges, both of whom had a very impressive couple of weeks and entered an intense battle for the starting BCB spot. Cristobal said on Friday that the competition between the two is still ongoing, but what is unclear is how long the winner of that competition will remain the starter.

Might James take over the starting role a couple of weeks into the season? And if he is in shape, will we see him on the field against Ohio State? That is something that we can’t answer without seeing him on the field at all. Both James and Hill were seen leaving practice with their teammates on Friday, so you can hope that they will be playing themselves into game shape over the next couple of weeks.

As for Hill, his path back to the starting lineup seems much more clear for the Ducks. Hill was a big piece of the defense in 2020, coming down with two interceptions near the end of the season. He also has 30 tackles and four passes defended in his 11 career games with the Ducks.

The battle for the safety spot alongside Verone McKinley III has not been as intense as at the BCB position, with a combination of Steve Stephens IV and Jordan Happle occupying that spot. Hill will have to earn the starting spot back once he returns to game shape, but if his past performance is any indication, that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

[listicle id=5972]

Trikweze Bridges and Dontae Manning take Oregon’s cornerback battle down to the wire

A competition for the starting boundary CB spot has boiled down to Trikweze Bridges vs. Dontae Manning, with the ultimate decision looming.

While virtually the entire depth chart for the Oregon Ducks is expected to be nailed down later this week, head coach Mario Cristobal said on Tuesday that there are a few positions that might take a little bit more time to determine the starter.

One of those positions is surely in the defensive secondary at the cornerback spot. With the loss of DJ James, who was indefinitely suspended after an alleged airsoft gun incident before fall camp, a starting spot at the boundary CB position opened up. Throughout the first two weeks of camp, a couple of players have been in a heated competition for the starting spot, in second-year freshman Dontae Manning, and third-year freshman Trikweze Bridges.

The two players are more different than they are alike. Manning was a 5-star recruit out of Kansas City who stands 6-feet tall, 185 pounds. Bridges, meanwhile, is 6-foot-3 with a massive 7-foot-2 inch wingspan.

Though different body types, the duo has been formidable so far this summer, putting all of the pressure on the coaching staff to determine the top guy.

“Anytime you get competition in camp, it’s going to be a back-and-forth deal,” said Oregon’s cornerback’s coach Rod Chance. “I think both of them are such different players. You’ve got one guy who’s really long; has a long lever, a press coverage guy. And the other guy is tightly wound and has a lot of twitch, a lot of explosiveness about him.”

Though Bridges was not as high profile coming into Eugene as a three-star recruit, he has surely played himself into contention for a starting job in his second full season with the Ducks. During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Bridges had two solo tackles while appearing in all seven games.

“Both of those guys are battling day-in and day-out, sometimes by the period,” Chance said. “Sometimes one guy has a better period when the competition is coming, and the next guy picks it up the next period.”

Manning is the player with all of the gravitas at the start of his career. As the 12th highest recruit in Oregon Ducks football history, there’s a belief that he will be one of the mainstays of the defense during his time in Eugene.

Though he was on campus in 2020, a hamstring injury suffered right before fall camp ultimately held him out of action. Now that he is back healthy with a full offseason under his belt, things are heading in the right direction for the freshman.

“In my mind, he’s a true freshman. He hasn’t had that full opportunity to get the training and the grinding or the fundamentals of what we’re doing,” Chance said. “So it’s leaps and bounds from where he was last year just because he’s getting those reps, but he’s a phenomenal athlete and we’re just trying to continue to hone in on his consistency and his process.”

While it is two young players with minimal experience vying for that top spot on the boundary, both guys have shown throughout the summer that they are capable of getting the job done. With veterans around them in Mykael Wright and Verone McKinley, there should be little worry about Oregon’s secondary this coming season.

“They’ve done a great job, both making plays, both flying around,” McKinley said after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s hard to just pick one because both of them are playing well so I know they’ll both be in the rotation.”

[listicle id=5901]