With the Fiesta Bowl win against Kansas State well behind them, the Oregon Ducks look to showcase what the 2013 team is all about during their annual Spring Game on April 27.
[caption id="attachment_277" align="alignleft" width="216" caption="The Military appreciation helmets that the Ducks will be wearing during their Spring Game."]
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The Spring Game takes place to excite the fans for the upcoming season; it is also a time where analysts become skeptical about what the future may hold.
Oregon has a lot of question marks coming into the Spring Game, as is normal every year for the Ducks.
The biggest question coming into this year’s game is the head-coaching situation. Mark Helfrich was named head coach on January 20, since then he has been under immense scrutiny without having coached a single game. Following in the footsteps of former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, Helfrich has large expectations to live up to.
The Spring Game is the perfect opportunity for Helfrich to quiet the critics and prove that he is the right man for the job. With that said, let’s hope that Oregon plays the same or this will be a long summer of skepticism for the Ducks and Mark Helfrich.
Next thing to look for during the game is Oregon’s offensive line and how they will recover from loosing three starters to graduation. Other than center Hroniss Grasu, the Ducks offensive line lacks extensive starting experience. The offensive line is the most important part of Oregon’s offense, if the line doesn’t succeed then the overall offense won’t run like it is supposed to.
Oregon looks to plug in Tyler Johnstone, Jake Fisher, Everett Beynard III, and Hamani Stevens along the line. These four players all have the size to be dominant lineman for the Ducks; but experience outweighs size, so success is still to be determined.
The next big question is determining what Helfrich’s idea is of the backfield. Junior athlete De’Anthony Thomas is not an every down back, over the past two seasons he hasn’t had to be the number one back; will he have to this year? I don’t believe that he is utilized properly as he lines up like a traditional running back, so I don’t foreshadow Helfrich using him in that manner.
[caption id="attachment_282" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Byron Marshall looks to handle a bulk of the carries this season"]
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Sophomore running back Bryon Marshall seems to be the best bet for the opening day starter. He saw significant time last year, totaling up 447 yards on 87 carries with four touchdowns.
Marshall reminds me of LeGarrette Blount, in the sense that he is a power running back rather than the traditional speed backs that Oregon has had the past couple of seasons. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry last season in a limited role. Look for Marshall to increase his productivity this year as the premiere back.
Then there is incoming freshman Thomas Tyner who might see significant time this year as the back up running back, allowing De’Anthony Thomas to be more of a slot receiver/hybrid running back.
One of the most important positions for the Oregon Ducks is running back, so watch for a combination of Thomas, Marshall, Tyner, and quarterback Marcus Mariota to do the bulk of the running.
The next position to watch is the wide receiver battle; the Ducks have 15 receivers on their roster coming into this season. Only
half of those players will actually be on the depth chart as a wide receiver, while the rest will be apart of the special teams squad/practice squad.
The favorites are seniors Josh Huff and Darryle Hawkins; junior Keanon Lowe; and sophomores Dwayne Stanford, B.J. Kelly and Bralon Addison.
[caption id="attachment_284" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mark Helfrich hopes to be all smiles this season"]
[/caption]This is one of the biggest competitions Oregon has coming into the season, look for Helfrich to decide who his main receivers are no later than the Spring Game.
Finally, one of the biggest reasons the Ducks haven’t made it to the National Championship the last two years: the inability to make field goals. Oregon has two kickers that look to vie for that role as the Ducks’ starting place kicker.
Senior kicker Alejandro Maldonado has made a name for himself, not the kind of name that he would hope for, by missing two crucial kicks the past two years (one against USC and the other against Stanford).
His competitor, junior kicker Eric Solis, hasn’t had much in game experience but has a much better kick efficiency than Maldonado. Solis was 3 for 4 in field goal attempts where as Maldonado was 3 for 6—he was 7 for 12 the year before.
The Ducks don’t kick field goals often; so when they do, they need to send someone out there they can trust is going to make the kick; and statistically speaking, Solis is the better kicker.
Watch for both kickers to be tested in practice and in the Spring Game, but Maldonado may have lost his opportunity to redeem himself.
Oregon is poised to make another run at the National Championship; it all starts Tuesday, April 2 as the 2013 NCAA season gets under way.
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