Transfer quarterback Anthony Brown was officially named to lead the number one offense on Friday.
The announcement came from Oregon head football coach Mario Cristobal after Friday’s practice when he met with members of the media.
Brown, who transferred to Eugene from Boston College, will lead the Oregon offense when the Ducks face the Bulldogs of Fresno State on Saturday, September 4th.
While Cristobal remained consistent in his ‘this is an open competition’ stance throughout fall camp, it was widely recognized that Brown would lead the Duck offense because of his overall experience at the position and his ‘cool under fire’ personality.
“Quarterback wise, Anthony Brown will start,…will be the starter for us” said Cristobal after running through a list of team notes.
“The number two quarterback position is still up for grabs and those guys will continue to compete.”
Cristobal and offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead have both been extremely complimentary of five-star freshman signal-caller Ty Thompson and Jay Butterfield in their competition for the Number two slot on the depth chart.
“The way he ( Brown ) handles and has control and command of the offense,… his presence amongst the players at the line of scrimmage, his ability to improvise, …sometimes negotiate throws in tough situations, his ability to run the ball as well,” is the way Cristobal said Brown had separated himself from the younger QB’s on the team.
“He’s been really accurate and his explosive play ratio has been really high against a defense that we feel is really good. … When we enter those periods to test the passing game we do team pass, team blitz, plays under pressure to really test the protections, test the quarterback, pocket presence and all that stuff. Anthony’s done a great job.
MARIO CRISTOBAL FRIDAY MEDIA BRIEFING
TEAM NOTES
In other news, Cristobal also announced the reinstatement of secondary starters D.J James and Jamal Hill after the pair were suspended indefinitely from an incident with an air soft gun that involved innocent bystanders.
“After consulting with campus and our administration, both Jamal Hill and D.J James have been reinstated for practice purposes,” said Cristobal in his opening statement.
“They will not be available for the Fresno State game.”
In another tight battle, this one on the defensive side of the football, Cristobal also announced there is still no clear-cut starter at one of the cornerback positions.
“Dont’e Manning and Trikweze Bridges will continue battling for that” explained Cristobal. “They’ve been co-starters the entire camp. They’re doing a good job competing,…continuing to get better, so we’re going to let that competition to continue to roll as well.”
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