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Can Justin Flowe teach me how to buy an NFT?
1. It’s supposed to rain, heavily, over the next two weeks. Feels like spring ball, doesn’t it? The Ducks begin the first of their 15 allotted spring practices on the 10th.
2. Speaking of, has anyone seen any interior plans for Oregon’s proposed indoor practice facility? I’m sure they can throw on a covered media wing, right?
3. Rain or shine, Dan Lanning shouldn’t mind. John Canzano had a nice story about him earlier this week. The Oregon coach has a house in escrow, a fly rod purchased and seems to be settling into a job and new life that began under a significant amount of pressure for a first-time head coach.
Remember, it was a little more than a month ago that Lanning was on the sideline for Georgia at the national championship game. Since, he’s filled out his staff, saved a recruiting class and did a pretty bang-up job of calming the masses after lettergate.
I get the feeling the next month of relative football normalcy will be welcomed by coaches, players and fans. Because, if we’re being honest, it felt pretty heavy there for a while, no? The pandemic derailed a Playoff-caliber roster in 2020 and 2021’s game-to-game swings happened with the Miami rumors playing loudly in the background. Cristobal was moodier and players didn’t appear to be having much fun — then there was the whole month of December where the collective Oregon fanbase seemingly went mad online.
So, yes, actual football with new storylines and characters will be a happy reprieve from the general chaos of the last two years.
4. There’s not a big gap in talent between Bo Nix — the former Auburn starting quarterback — and Oregon’s returning quarterbacks Ty Thompson and Jay Butterfield. I predicted last month that Thompson, a redshirt freshman, will win the job this fall, but I’m beginning to feel like he’ll need an otherworldly spring for that to happen.
It’s a peak season for the offensive line and there’s still three five-stars on defense. This team can be competitive now and there’s a good chance offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham builds his offense around the quarterback he’s previously coached.
With two years of eligibility remaining, Nix begins the spring with a significant head start.
“You’re bringing in Bo to play,” said a former member of Cristobal’s staff. “He fits what they want to do. He’s not a running quarterback, but he has that background. And in Dillingham’s system, if things aren’t working out, they run the quarterback. It’s always going to be a safety net and Bo Nix is going to be the one to give that to them — even if Ty Thompson is going to be a much better quarterback.”
5. The Ducks haven’t had a true battle at running back since 2018, when senior Tony Brooks-James entered the spring with a lead over a bunch of new faces.
From The Oregonian in 2018:
“The biggest surprise in the backfield this spring was CJ Verdell, who is one of Oregon’s few options with some actual size. He’s not tall, but at 5-foot-9 and 202 pounds, Verdell is a cannonball in the backfield and easily had the best spring game of the bunch. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him listed behind Brooks-James when a depth chart comes out in the fall.”
Spring success doesn’t always correlate to the fall, but Verdell did rush for a team-high 1,018 yards that season.
With Verdell choosing the NFL Draft and Travis Dye choosing a complicated college legacy, Byron Cardwell Jr. is the popular pick for the No. 1 job. He led the Ducks with 6.8 yards per carry as a true freshman and combines size ( 6-foot, 210 pounds) with breakaway speed. But the Ducks have options — Seven McGee played snaps at running back and receiver as a true freshman — and I really want to see how Sean Dollars performs. He was a breakout candidate before a knee injury derailed his season a year ago, and he’s making it well known that he’s healthy.
Remember: Dollars was once a four-star, top-150 prospect who played snaps in the Rose Bowl as a true freshman. I don’t think he’s scratched the surface yet on what he can do.
6. One of my favorite things to watch at practice the last four years was seeing the joy RB coach Jim Mastro got beating the living snot out of his players. An exaggeration, of course, but the smile he wore as he and his staff hurled medicine balls at players — well, that’s just good stuff.
New coaches bring new quirks. New running backs coach Carlos Locklyn is jacked, and I don’t think there’s a coach on Oregon’s staff happier to be in his new position.
He also seems to know a thing or two about Oregon tradition.
I look forward to seeing what he’s about. I also hope he leaves the medicine balls to the assistants.
7. Lanning won’t have the same defensive firepower he had at Georgia, but redshirt freshman linebacker Justin Flowe is as close as he’ll get to what he needs this side of the Mississippi. I don’t know how much he’s projected to participate this spring and really it shouldn’t matter. If bubble-wrapping Flowe until kickoff six months from now in Atlanta is what the Ducks need to do to keep him healthy, so be it. I don’t get the sense that this kid really needs practice. He’s played one full game in his college career and recorded 14 tackles with a forced fumble.
The Ducks can make that work — especially next to Noah Sewell.
I found it notable that UO/Division Street used him as the center of their latest NFT campaign, which took in more than $500,000.
8. Maybe I should rewatch that, because Brian McAndrew (from Supwitchugirl fame) is selling what needs to be The I-5 Corridor’s new podcast outro music.
9. For his first time as a head coach, Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith will enter the start of OSU spring practice on Thursday with a winning season on his resume.
He spoke with media Monday about sustaining the success that brought the Beavers to their first bowl game since 2013.
“We’ll remind them, and they’re aware, that this thing takes a lot of hard work and each year is new. Just like we’ve been saying in previous years that each year is new, just because what took place before doesn’t guarantee anything,” Smith said. “I think if these guys keep working like they did in January and February, diving now into football in March and April, we’ll continue to improve. With the talent and depth we got back, continuity with the scheme, I feel confident that we can put something special together.”
Retooling the offensive line is a huge priority for the Beavers, as is squeezing a few more explosive plays out of quarterback Chance Nolan.
“There’s some opportunities to complete a few more deep balls,” Smith said. “More accuracy on the deep throw has been something we’ve talked about. I think he made a great jump from his first time playing a couple years ago to this last year and if he can make that same kind of jump we’ll feel really good about it.”
10. I only had nine of these things, then I noticed that Oregon offensive lineman Dawson Jaramillo has started posting “Mullet Monday” tweets. And that, my friends, seems like a swell way to wrap up this post.
— Tyson Alger
