Football Practice Report Report: No More Training Wheels for Travis Dye
In which we talk about Anthony Brown Jr., JJ3 being a mentor, and take some errant shots at DereQ Anonderson.
Happy Friday, Ditch Rich fans.
I’ve once again sifted through the Go Ducks practice reports, so you don’t have to. Lot’s of good stuff in here, with a wonderful offensive bias, to boot.
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The CJ and Travis Comeback
This week’s practice report leans heavily on conversations with—and the performances of—the two leading men in the runningback room: CJ Verdell and Travis Dye.
Aside from Dye becoming an incredible “push for touchdown in case of emergency” option in the passing game, last season was disappointing for the RBs.
CJ Verdell’s injury—which he recently revealed was to his thumb—along with a young o-line, and an awful case of fumble fever for all the backs, were all factors to the down year.
Cyrus TD-Likio has since transferred to Boise State, Sean Dollars is out indefinitely with an unknown injury of his own, and Cross Patton/Trey Benson are both apparently also sitting out right now.
That just leaves the two leaders: CJ and Travis.
CJ says that he is back. And Travis also says that CJ is back. And if “CJ being back” looks anything like 2019-20 CJ, then I can’t wait.
Travis also said coach Moorhead has made it clear to him that last year’s offensive scheme was just a preview of everything they’re going to do. He believes that, “the training wheels are off.”
Due to all the injuries, walk-on wide receiver and literally the best college football player/human being to ever come out of Scappoose, Tevin Jeannis, has jumped in to help with runningback duties in practice.
I don’t think that means we’ll actually see Jeannis at RB durring the season, I just wanted to give him a shoutout because he’s a special teams stud, and also I have somehow never shit on Derek Anderson in this blog yet.
And there’s a lot more where that came from, DereQ.
I’m Getting So Close to Saying It
As the last bastion of logic and fact in the world of Oregon football, I’ll do what I usually do, and just present evidence, with save the editorializing for the lesser pundits.
Mario Cristobal says that Anthony Brown Jr. has taken 100% of the reps as QB1 in the first five Spring practices.
Rob Moseley’s April 13th practice report stated that AB, “clearly looked like the Ducks’ most efficient quarterback.”
And AB was also named offensive “Duck of the Day” on April 3rd by the official Oregon Football twitter account itself.
Pair all of that with recent shoutouts from Mycah Pittman, Travis Dye, Robby Ashford’s mother, I’m getting real close to telling you all who QB1 is.
“Anthony’s doing a really good job of just taking this team over right now.” - Travis Dye
Out of the mouths of babes, folks.
The only thing holding me back is that Mario also said this week that the depth chart will get its “big shake up” next week as they work their way up to the May 1st Spring Game.
Give me one more practice, and I’ll be telling you to pull the trigger on those #13 jerseys. This just might be AB’s team.
“That’s what Johnny Johnson likes about these freshmen wide receivers, man.”
Last week, JJ3 talked about being a senior mentor to some of the young receivers like Troy Franklin and Dont’e Thornton—just like Royce Freeman was for him.
He also thinks that Jaylon Redd and him are looking to anchor the best Oregon WR group of all time.
“We’re going to be one of those groups that’s talked about for a long time.” - JJ3
And, not to be upstaged by Franklin’s circus catch in the first practice, Mycah Pittman turned in yet another one-handed grab to add to his growing mythos of, “The Guy Who Does Dope Things,” on this Ducks’ team.
All that to say, that I think “historic” is certainly within reach for this WR group. Who knows if they can get somewhere up there with 2014’s Allen/Lowe/Nelson/Addison/Stanford/Carrington or 2010’s Maehl/LT/Davis/Huff (+ The White Widow Will Murphy), but hey, third place is up for grabs.
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