Chris Hampton says the Ducks will begin sorting the depth chart Friday, but Tuesday’s interviews offered better clues about what will determine those decisions. Execution and consistency remain the priority, Devon Jackson’s teammates are backing up the standard he has set for himself and Koi Perich looks increasingly comfortable doing almost everything Oregon asks of him.
There was something Drew Mehringer said Monday that stayed with me while listening to Chris Hampton a day later.
Mehringer told us about the idea board in Oregon’s offensive staff room, a place where coaches can put down concepts they would like to try. There are apparently plenty of ideas on it, but his bigger question at this point in camp is whether Oregon actually needs all of them.
Hampton gave us something close to the defensive version Tuesday when he was asked whether Oregon might hold anything back against Boise State.
“No, I mean, Boise State’s an unbelievable football team,” Hampton said. “I don’t think there’ll be anything we can hold back. Those guys almost beat us last time they came here. I think we’ll have to unload, if that makes sense.”
Then Hampton got to the part of the answer I found more interesting.
“There’s no secrets in football,” he said. “Cover three is cover three. Cover one is cover one. A lot of times it’s who’s running cover one. Who’s running cover three? Who’s rushing that passer?”
That sounds pretty simple for a defensive coordinator who has spent most of August installing a defense with enough veteran experience to handle quite a bit. I think the simplicity is probably intentional.
Earlier in camp, both Hampton and Mehringer talked about how much their respective groups could carry schematically. Now, with game preparation almost here, both sound more interested in finding out which players can execute what has already been installed.
Hampton is still more concerned with consistency than who won practice
Evan Stewart said Monday that the defense had been “whooping” the offense lately, which gave Hampton a chance Tuesday to claim a little victory for his side. He did not seem very interested in doing that.
“Stew was maybe just a prisoner of the moment,” Hampton said. “I think we had the better of them one day. They’ve had the better of us some days. I think it’s been a lot of good back and forth.”
That answer fits what we have heard throughout camp. The offense has had days where it looked good, the defense has had days where it controlled practice and neither side seems particularly interested in making those results mean much once the next practice begins.
What Hampton does care about is whether the defense can eliminate the stretches where it falls off.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” he said. “I don’t think we’re a finished product yet of where we want to be, which is fine. I think we’ve had some highs. We’ve had some lows. So trying to be consistent, I think that was the big message this morning. Can we be a consistent defense?”
That is probably a more useful assessment than trying to decide whether the defense is ahead of the offense.
Hampton also went back to the same basic football things he discussed when we first heard from him early in camp.
“I think we’ve done a great job attacking the football,” he said. “I think I’ve seen us play with great physicality. We’ve had some really good effort from some guys at times. This has been an easy group to coach. We’re doing the basics good. We’re lining up right, getting our hands in the dirt, playing with technique and fundamentals, eyes on our keys.”
There is nothing complicated in that list.
Oregon has plenty of complicated defensive answers if Hampton wants them. The standard he continues to describe is much less interesting on a whiteboard: line up correctly, play with good eyes, use the right technique, run to the football and finish.
If Oregon does those things with this roster, Hampton seems to believe the rest will take care of itself.
Friday should finally give Oregon something resembling a real depth chart
We have spent most of August trying to figure out when Oregon would move from broad competition into something closer to an actual depth chart. Hampton gave us the clearest timeline yet.
“We’ve got a lot of guys still rolling out,” he said. “We haven’t done a depth chart yet. We’ll probably start that on Friday where we start separating the who’s in the ones, who’s in the twos, et cetera.”
I do not think that means Hampton and the staff have no idea who their best players are until Friday. Coaches have been evaluating every snap since camp began, and some of these competitions are almost certainly further along internally than they are publicly.
What Friday probably changes is how the repetitions begin to get distributed.
“We’ve got a lot of quality football players,” Hampton said. “So I think the challenging part for us is finding roles for everybody, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
That sounds less like a staff searching for starters and more like one deciding how many players it can actually use.
STAR may be the best example. Hampton mentioned Carl Williams IV, Davon Benjamin and Zach Grisham when he was asked about the competition and made it clear he does not expect the position to belong to one player all season.
“I think it’s going to be multiple guys do it,” Hampton said. “I really do. I think that Carl’s done a great job. Davon’s done a great job. Zach Grisham’s done a great job.”
Cornerback appears to have some of the same depth.
“Obviously Finney and Ify started the majority of the season last year,” Hampton said. “Na’eem’s had an unbelievable camp. Really proud of him. He’s playing his best football right now. Dorian Brew, Aaron Scott. So we’ve got quality depth.”
Hampton also brought up Tre Watson, the junior-college addition, saying he has shown “a lot of good flashes” during camp.
That is why simply asking who starts may not tell us enough about this defense. Oregon appears to have enough players at several positions that Friday’s depth chart may establish an order without necessarily limiting who plays.
Davon Benjamin sounds increasingly like a freshman Oregon intends to use
Hampton did not hesitate much when he was asked why Davon Benjamin appears ready to help as a freshman.
“I think he’s got extreme confidence,” Hampton said. “I think he’s obviously got the skill set. A lot of freshmen have the skill set, but there’s times that there’s a learning curve. He’s a smart individual. He’s really confident. He’s got some swagger to him. I think he’ll be able to help us this year.”
I think the confidence part is probably the most important piece of that answer.
Hampton has talked since early in camp about not overloading young defensive backs just because they are athletic enough to do several things. The staff would rather let a young player become confident in something, then continue adding responsibilities as he proves he can handle them.
Perich sees the same thing in Benjamin.
“I see a level of maturity with Davon,” Perich said. “He came in, obviously, a freshman, a little jittery, but he’s grown very fast, and I love the way he plays. He plays mean, he plays fast, and he’s going to be a really great player.”
That does not necessarily mean Benjamin is about to become a 60-snap player against Boise State. With Williams and Grisham also capable of playing STAR, Oregon may not need him to be.
It does sound as though he has done enough to make himself part of the discussion about who can actually help this season rather than simply who will be good eventually.
The best evidence about Devon Jackson came from Koi Perich
Jackson has talked since spring about wanting to become a more physical player, and Tuesday he made it clear that he does not believe saying it publicly means very much.
“Honestly, I haven’t really done anything different,” Jackson said when asked about his growth as a leader. “You’re going to believe who you see work, and I would want my teammates to see how I work and how I show up every day and believe that.”
He took the thought quite a bit further.
“I’m not a fan of big rah-rah guys that do stuff for social media or in front of coaches,” Jackson said. “If your teammates don’t believe down in their hearts that you’re who you say you are, they’re not going to follow me.” social media or in front of coaches,” Jackson said. “If your teammates don’t believe down in their hearts that you’re who you say you are, they’re not going to follow me.”
That is a pretty strong statement about how Jackson views leadership.
He does not want to tell teammates he is physical. He wants them to feel it. He does not want to tell them he works hard. He wants them to see it.
A few minutes later, Jackson left and Perich sat down.
Perich was asked specifically whether Jackson has become the more violent, physical linebacker he said he wanted to be during the spring.
“I would say Devon Jackson, what I’ve seen has taken a big step,” Perich said. “Each day he comes with a ferocious, just an appearance to him. Obviously he wore this dark visor. It was pretty sick. But, yeah, he is definitely a physical linebacker. He brings it really every day.”
Perich had another answer later that probably matters even more.
“I feel like you just see it, just the way he prepares,” he said. “Obviously, this offseason working together each morning, just watching him prepare and the way he attacks a workout, a practice. Everything he does is at 100 percent.”
That is almost exactly the standard Jackson had described for himself.
Dan Lanning put a lot on Jackson at Media Day when he said the defense could be really good if Jackson became the player Oregon believes he can be. Hampton also sounded pretty confident Tuesday that Jackson is headed in the right direction.
“I’m really proud of him,” Hampton said. “I think he’s going to have a great season for us. He and I have had some one-on-one talks. We’ve watched some film together. Coach Michalowski has done a great job of helping him develop. I think his confidence is high right now, and I think he’s going to play his best football this season.”
Jackson is not talking like someone satisfied with praise.
“If I can be the player that I know I can be and the coaches believe I can be, then we can do something special,” he said. “But you still got to work for it. Ain’t nobody going to hand that to me. Like, no one’s handed that to me in five years I’ve been here. You got to work at it every day. Rent’s due every day.”
That is probably where his urgency comes from.
Jackson knows exactly what this season means for him
There was another part of Jackson’s interview that I thought was more revealing than almost anything schematic we heard Tuesday.
He was asked how eager he is to finally get into a game and show what he can do as a starter.
“Man, I’m ready,” Jackson said. “I’m ready to just show it every play because this is it. This is the only guarantee that I have for myself.”
Jackson then compared his situation with some of Oregon’s more established players.
“I wasn’t a Dante or a Stew or a Poncho or all those other guys that they could have went to the league,” he said. “I’m just being honest. This is do or die for me. And so, like, I have to bring it every day. There is no other option.”
That kind of urgency can go in two directions.
A player can begin chasing plays and trying to prove himself on every snap, which is usually how linebackers end up out of position. Or the urgency can make preparation more important because the player understands he cannot waste a day.
Everything Jackson said Tuesday points toward the second.
“This is my last first game in college,” he said later. “There’s not a guarantee I may get another first game. So I got to go out there and prove it for myself. Just prove it to myself. I don’t care what nobody else thinks.”
There is a lot of preseason attention on Oregon’s defensive front and secondary. Jackson may be one of the more important players in determining how completely all of that talent fits together.
Koi Perich looks much more comfortable inside the defense than he did in spring
Perich was already an established college football player when he arrived at Oregon, but he was still learning a new defensive language in the spring. Tuesday he sounded like a player who has moved considerably further into the system.
“I would say especially this past few days, even this past few weeks, I’ve definitely learned my way around this playbook,” Perich said. “I feel like I’ve handled myself with a level of maturity throughout the whole time learning it, learning from my mistakes throughout spring ball and fall camp, summer. Just keep on growing throughout that.”
Then he described something that I think is a better indication of defensive comfort than simply saying he knows the playbook.
“If we’re not even signaling or talking, we’re still communicating with each other through hand signals,” Perich said. “So it’s pretty cool.”
That is usually what happens when players begin understanding the defense beyond the call itself.
Hampton is seeing the same thing.
“I think he can do it all,” Hampton said when asked about Perich’s versatility. “He’s shown the ability to cover in the slot. He can tackle. He’s been extremely physical. He’s made a lot of plays on the ball. He’s very ball aware. He’s got some savviness to him.”
Hampton finished that answer with one of the stronger evaluations he has given anyone during camp.
“I don’t see a lot of flaws in his game.”
The interesting part is that Perich still would not make any grand declaration about what Oregon’s defense is going to become.
“I really hope we come out with a ferocious tenacity,” Perich said. “Obviously, it’s going to take us what we see game one. I’m not going to say what we are. We have to really show it.”
That answer sounds a lot like the things Lanning and Hampton have been saying for three weeks.
Perich’s golf simulator gives us a small look at what “connection” actually means
Hampton probably did not expect one of his Tuesday answers to turn into a discussion about golf, but it gave us a useful little window into Perich’s transition to Oregon.
Perich wanted a place with a garage because he brought a golf simulator with him. Hampton said it has turned into a group activity for several defensive backs, including Trey McNutt, Peyton Woodyard and Brandon Finney Jr., while Dante Moore apparently plays with the group quite a bit as well.
Perich laughed when asked whether Hampton’s claim that he is the best golfer among the players was accurate.
“Definitely,” Perich said before admitting Mehringer has beaten him. “Other than that, no player has beat me. I’m willing to give everybody a shot.”
The football part of the story is not whether Perich can hit a driver.
He said the simulator has helped him connect with teammates and bring different players together away from the facility. That is a very ordinary example of the fellowship and player connection Oregon has talked about since Media Day, and sometimes the ordinary examples tell us more than another discussion about culture.
Perich also talked about how much his teammates have helped him since arriving.
“When they’re giving 100 percent, I see that, oh, let me go give a little more,” he said. “It just makes it easy when you’ve got a bunch of guys just willing to come out each and every day with an attacking mindset.”
That is probably a better explanation for why Perich seems comfortable so quickly than anything we could manufacture from the transfer portal.
Dorian Brew and Trey McNutt are still pushing for roles
One of the better questions Hampton received Tuesday was about players who have not been discussed quite as much recently.
Dorian Brew and Trey McNutt were the two names.
“Tremendously improved,” Hampton said. “I think they’re both helping us out. Just watching out there at practice, Dorian Brew had a great day out there today on the field.”
Hampton then made a point of acknowledging the question.
“That’s a great question,” he said. “I got some guys that sometimes people don’t ask about as much. I think Trey McNutt’s continuing to improve, doing a great job for us, and I think they both can have roles for us this season.”
That is worth remembering when Friday’s depth-chart sorting begins.
Oregon has enough established names in the secondary that it would be easy to assume younger players who are not running with the obvious first group have been eliminated from consideration. Hampton does not talk like that.
A role might mean five snaps, 15 snaps, special teams or a package built around a specific skill. On a roster this deep, the question is probably less about whether every player starts and more about whether Hampton can find enough situations where the depth actually helps Oregon win.
Brandon Smith apparently gave the defense a rough Monday
One of the best practice nuggets Tuesday came from Jackson talking about someone on the other side of the ball.
Freshman running back Brandon Smith has been generating some positive talk during camp, and Jackson was asked what Smith has looked like from the perspective of the linebackers trying to tackle him.
“Man, B. Smith, that’s my dog, bro,” Jackson said. “I got to mess with him on a daily basis.”
Then Jackson laughed and offered a fairly colorful description of Monday’s practice.
“He tore it yesterday,” Jackson said. “He scored like three times, had like, felt like 300 yards. He freaking embarrassed us yesterday.”
Nobody should turn that into a statistical report from a closed practice. Jackson was clearly exaggerating to make the point that Smith had a very good day.
The point is still useful.
Smith is another freshman who keeps appearing in conversations late in camp, and Jackson believes the talent is real.
“He’s a really good player,” Jackson said. “That’s somebody that he puts his head down and works. That’s somebody that, like, he’s going to be a good player for us for sure.”
It also adds a little evidence to Hampton pushing back on Stewart’s claim that the defense has been dominating practice lately.
There has apparently been plenty of back and forth.
Playing behind this defensive line could make Devon Jackson’s job a lot easier
Jackson gave a pretty simple explanation for why he is excited about playing behind Oregon’s defensive front.
He mentioned A’Mauri Washington and Bear Alexander, then explained what their presence can do for a linebacker.
“It makes my job easy playing behind A’Mauri and Bear,” Jackson said. “They got to hold those doubles, you know, for an O-line. But it’s like, yeah, you can’t climb up to me. You got to deal with them boys up front.”
That matters quite a bit for a linebacker whose game is built around playing fast and physical.
If Oregon’s defensive tackles force guards and centers to remain engaged at the line of scrimmage, Jackson gets more opportunities to run downhill without having to defeat a 300-pound blocker before reaching the ball carrier.
He also thinks the experience on the defense extends much further than the most recognizable names.
“A’Mauri’s in his fourth year. Bear’s in his fifth year of school. Obviously second year here. Teitum’s fourth year here. Matayo’s fourth year here. Jerry’s fourth year here,” Jackson said. “Guys are also in the linebacker room, Dylan Williams, third year here. Guys have been here. They might not get as much love as they might want, but people have been here and they’ve been working.”
Then Jackson gave us the expectation that comes with all of that experience.
“Now it’s just time for not just the quote-unquote starters to show it, but everybody to show it.”
That fits where Hampton says the defense is headed Friday.
Hampton and Mehringer are still helping each other prepare
There was also a good continuation Tuesday from something Mehringer discussed early in camp.
Mehringer has talked about how he and Hampton use practice to challenge one another, especially during unscripted periods when both coordinators have to react rather than simply call something from a predetermined script.
Hampton said that relationship has continued.
“Drew has been great to work with,” he said. “Sometimes you can work with a coordinator and they want this thing and it’s their way or the highway and they’re selfish, and Drew is not at all.”
Hampton said the two regularly ask each other to show specific looks.
“I need to see this,” Hampton said. “Hey, I need to see this pressure. I need to see this personnel grouping on this play.”
That is another reason I keep coming back to the similarities in what both coordinators are saying.
They are not just trying to beat each other during practice. They are using the other side of the ball to expose problems now, while there is still time to fix them.
Hampton expects Oregon to use what it has against Boise State
I thought Hampton’s answer about Boise State was useful because it pushed back against the idea that Oregon will treat the opener as an opportunity to hide its better defensive answers.
He remembers how close the last meeting was.
“I don’t think there’ll be anything we can hold back,” Hampton said. “Those guys almost beat us last time they came here.”
That does not mean Oregon is going to dump every pressure or coverage it has installed into one game.
It does mean Hampton does not sound interested in approaching Boise State as though Oregon can simply line up in something generic and wait for talent to take over.
His point that “there’s no secrets in football” also fits everything else he said Tuesday.
The advantage is not that Oregon knows what cover one is and Boise State does not.
The advantage has to be that Oregon has better players executing it correctly.
Evan Stewart now has another endorsement from the defensive side
At this point, the Evan Stewart praise has come from enough different directions that it is becoming difficult to dismiss as camp talk.
Perich was asked what Stewart looks like from the defensive side and immediately answered with probably the strongest endorsement we have heard yet.
“Evan Stewart is a problem,” Perich said. “And he is going to be a problem.”
Perich was not done.
“That man has the best feet I’ve seen at a wide receiver,” he said. “Obviously, if he didn’t get hurt this past year, you probably wouldn’t have seen him this year. He is going to be one of the best receivers in the country, and I fully believe he is one of the best receivers in the country.”
We heard Mehringer praise Stewart Monday. Poncho talked about how much Stewart has grown as a leader and how his voice now carries on the practice field. Lanning has repeatedly brought up the camp Stewart has had.
Now one of the defensive backs trying to deal with him every day is saying essentially the same thing.
There will eventually be a point where Oregon has to prove all of this against somebody else.
We are about there.
What I think we learned Tuesday
The easiest story from Practice 16 would be that Oregon believes its defense is deep and talented. We knew that before practice started.
The more interesting part is that Hampton finally gave us a date when some of that depth is going to begin getting sorted more formally. Friday should start separating ones and twos, even though Hampton still expects multiple players to have roles at positions such as STAR and corner.
I also think we got another clue about where both sides of the football are headed schematically.
Mehringer spent Monday talking about whether Oregon actually needs every idea it can create. Hampton followed Tuesday by saying there are no secrets in football and that cover three is still cover three; what changes is who is playing it.
That sounds like a team reaching the point where installation is becoming less important than execution.
And maybe the best evidence of what Oregon has spent all offseason trying to build came from Jackson and Perich.
Jackson said he does not want teammates following him because of what he says in front of a microphone. He wants them to believe him because they watch the way he works and feel the physicality he brings every day.
Then Jackson left the room, Perich sat down and described almost exactly that player.
There are a lot of things coaches can tell us during fall camp.
Sometimes the better answer comes when the teammate walks in next and confirms it.