O-Line, D-Line? No Problem
The talk of the first week of football practice has been the offensive and defensive lines, so after Friday’s morning practice I caught up with defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro and a few players to check in on the progress.
DEFENSIVE LINE
“It’s ok,” Azzinaro said. “It’s a work in progress. When you’re in training camp, everyday you’re just trying to build on the day before. You start with the fundamentals. For most of these guys it’s how to hit somebody. The majority of our time is on that.”
One can tell Azzinarro is a little tired of answering repeated questions about how the line is progressing so early in fall camp, so he was hesitant to actually voice any concerns about where his line might be lacking. All he says is:
“This time of year you just focus on work ethic and how you respond from practice to practice,” he said.
Defensive end Will Tukuafu agrees with Azzinaro.
“We’re getting there,” he said. “We’re understanding the scheme of things a little bit better and we’re working hard.”
He also says that the best thing the younger players can do is just open their ears.
“Just listen,” Tukuafu said. “You have to listen and learn from older players and coach Azz. I think that’s the biggest part. If you haven’t experienced those things, if you listen to the older players and coaches, the game will slow down for you a lot faster.”
Azzinaro also speaks highly of Tukuafu, who was just named to the watch list for the Bednarik award, given to the nation’s top defender.
“Will brings a tremendous work ethic,” Azzinaro said. “If you have that you can accomplish most things. Every day is the same thing: he’s going to work hard. Now, how far he can bring himself, that’s what we are going to have to see.”
Despite the honor, Tukuafu says that he’d rather win 12 or 13 games than an individual award.
“All that stuff really doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I’m honored, I’m humbled, but at the same time you still have to play. That’s why you just have to come out and grind away and get better in fall camp.”
OFFENSIVE LINE
On the offense, I caught up with redshirt freshman Carson York who is expected to fill the fourth spot on the line and C.E. Kaiser, who holds the most experience of any on the line with 10 career starts.
“We’re a lot better now than we were in the spring,” York offers. “I feel like we have a better knowledge of the offensive line as a group and we’re working better together than we did in the spring.”
That’s a small reassurance to most Duck fans, who worry that without a strong O-line, Oregon’s vaunted rushing offense will fizzle.
“I think minus one day we have been getting better,” York said. “We’ve been doing a decent job gelling as a unit and figuring it out. I feel like we’re on the way to doing our part for the team.”
“I think the O-Line is not at our peak, but we’re just getting past the rust to the part where we are really learning the offense,” Kaiser said. “I think the freshman are coming along real well. We’ve always had a good O-line and they are doing the same thing.”
And the youngest member of the first unit says guys like Kaiser and center Jordan Holmes are helping bring him a long.
“I think it would be (too much) if it weren’t for Jordan and the older guys,” York said. “I’ve run the offense during camp my redshirt year, and they’re doing a good job making sure I’m not being left behind and I’m on the same page as them. I probably need to improve in every aspect of the offensive line. I had a mentality of making sure I’m in the right spot and kind of forgetting to play as aggressively as I should and finishing blocks.”
And Kaiser says don’t worry about them, when the time comes to strap on their helmets against Boise State, they’ll be ready.
“We’re going to take care of ourselves and just work hard,” Kaiser said. “For the past three years people have said bad stuff about the O-line and not even bad stuff, but we’ve been kind of a question mark. What we’ve been doing is learning and going day by day.”
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