It’s truly hard to believe, but the Oregon Ducks Spring football game will take place on Saturday and it will be the first time new head coach Dan Lanning will get to see Autzen Stadium with fans in the stands.
You simply have to wonder what his excitement level is just days away from those doors opening.
Whether Autzen will be packed or not is still a question, but you don’t need 56,000 fans to make Autzen special.
Oregon has never sold out the stadium for the Spring Game, but more fans have been coming to this event in recent seasons and the anticipation level for this game, in particular, is sky-high.
Lanning has put an emphasis on the Spring Game and naturally so since he comes from SEC country where their spring games draw just as many fans as a regular-season game would in October.
He has invited more than a few high-profile recruits to come to Eugene on Saturday to check things out for themselves.
But as for the actual Ducks in uniform, there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on.
- QUARTERBACK – It was almost a given that when Bo Nix transferred from Auburn, he would become the Oregon starter for 2022. To Ty Thompson’s credit, it hasn’t been a cakewalk for Nix to win the job and that’s what he’ll have to do. Win the job. Thompson is pushing the senior hard and Saturday will be a showcase of how much the freshman has progressed.
- RUNNING BACK BATTLE – Oregon has three players battling it out to replace Travis Dye at tailback and who has the bigger game on Saturday could go a long way to answering that question. All of them being sophomores, Byron Cardwell, Sean Dollars and Western Kentucky transfer Noah Whittingham are pushing each other to the next level. Whomever wins this job in the fall, the Ducks will be in good hands.
- TRANSFERS FITTING IN – Oregon has several players who have transferred into the program, but most notably have been receiver Chase Cota (UCLA) and defensive lineman Sam Taimani (Washington). Both add depth to positions already full of talent, but both are upper-classmen, which is crucial to what is really a young team.
- WEATHER – It’s supposed to be in the mid-60s and partly cloudy, the perfect forecast for a football game in late April. The weather shouldn’t be a reason for fans to stay home. The football game is just one of a few events happening on campus with the baseball and softball teams playing later in the day.
- HEALTH – The main focus of every spring game is to come out of it healthy and ready to go for summer workouts leading up to fall camp. That Georgia game in Atlanta is just around the corner and Oregon will need to be as healthy as possible in order to go into the heart of SEC country and shock the world with an upset victory.
SPRING PRACTICE; DAN LANNING PROVIDES PRACTICE UPDATE