Scrimmage Notes and Rumors

LaGarrette Blount is as advertised. Blount has been given the impossible task of stepping right in and replacing the 1,700 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns from departed Junior Jonathan Stewart. However, Blount clearly is showing he can more than fill in nicely with a combination of Senior Jeremiah Johnson and Andre Crenshaw as the flashy shifty type packs to Blount's bowling ball style.

During the scrimmage Blount ran hard and with a purpose; to hit the defense harder than they hit him. Time and time again Blount would finish a long run with a Madden like truck stick against a defensive player as he finished almost every time falling forward for a few extra yards the the ringing of pads colliding echoing throughout Autzen Stadium. Blount finished with 11 carries for 68 yards including four runs of 10 yards or more with a long of 17. He also scored the offense's second touch down of the day on a zone read inside the 10 yard line where he ran right and bulldozed over the line of scrimmage and into the endzone.

Sophomore Remene Alston was a big surprise in the type of production he gave the offense when given the ball. Alston has noticeably slimmed down and leaned up in regards to his body this off season as it is starting to pay off for him. With a leaner body Alston has been able to improve on his quickness yet keep the about the same weight as he came into Oregon as a freshmen. With a stronger and quicker body mixed with his already great vision and good shiftiness Alston is starting to work his way into the picture of becoming a regular on the field next fall. Alston finished the scrimmage rushing the ball six times for 34 yards. All six of his runs were for positive yards and had four nice long runs where he showed great vision and ability to set up his downfield blockers.

Junior Andre Crenshaw finished the scrimmage with 10 carries for 31 yards the and the other lone touchdown for the Offense Saturday when he worked with the first team offense as well as the second team.

The defense however won the day as they quickly made their presence felt on the field when Junior linebacker Kevin Garrett intercepted Sophomore Justin Roper on the first play of the day and picked up around 8 yards on the return. The defense also intercepted the ball two more times coming from Sophomore corner back Anthony Gildon intercepting freshmen to be Darron Thomas on the sideline and freshmen to be John Boyett snagged a ball in traffic from his safety position off of Cade Cooper.

Outside of the first team offensive line the offensive line had trouble keeping the pocket intact long enough for the quarterback to find an open target or to allow the wide receivers to get separation from their defenders. As a group the quarterbacks had a very bad day passing as they ended the afternoon throwing 13 completions off of 26 attempts for a lowly 83 yards.

The lack of yards after catch, or YAC, however can be placed on the youthfulness of the wide receiver core and then experience of the defensive backfield. Juniors Walter Thurmond and Jairus Byrd shut down the receivers they were matched up against all day. Not much was different when the Ducks brought in Glasper, Gildon, Jackson, and Peppers at the corner back spots as well.

Marvin Johnson, the replacement at Rover for Senior Patrick Chung was also out and thus replaced by redshirt freshmen Todd Doxey who more than held his own as he started with the first team defense. Doxey finished with four solo tackles and one being a tackle behind the line of scrimmage.

The highlight hit of the day came from Eddy Pleasant when he crushed a spinning Alston right back into the ground via his back. It was a crushing hit that left the crowd and defense hooting and hollering for more.

Watching from the sidelines among the estimated 400 fans was TE transfer Na Darris Ward along with his mother. According to eDuck.com Ward has labeled Oregon his favorite. Ward would be a sophomore next season but because of NCAA transfer rules would be forced to sit a year due to transferring. Ward would have two years of eligibility once sitting out a year for the number 3 ranked Tight End in the nation for the 2006 class.

Oregon commit Taylor Hart was also hand along with his father on the sidelines as he watched his future teammates practice. Hart clearly seemed bigger than his listed weight on the recruiting services. Hart might be a huge diamond in the rough type recruit that flew under the radar.

DucksIllustrated has also been tipped off that the football team might be landing a few more recruits' commitments on or around Junior day from two defensive players.

Stay tuned for updates on who and when the potential recruits commit to Oregon or not.