Oregon football: Mario Cristobal offers insight to quarterback battle

Oregon football coach Mario Cristobal has a tough decision to make regarding his quarterback battle. While it appeared in the spring that senior Anthony Brown was the clear starter, three freshman quarterbacks are starting to push him.

Cristobal spoke on Saturday about how things are shaping up at quarterback for the Ducks.

“I feel like they’re all different, so they separate themselves in different ways,” Cristobal said of his freshmen quarterbacks. “None of them do anything poorly. They just excel at some things better than others. At the end of the day, it’s about moving the chains and scoring points. We have enough in our offense to play differently with each one and not really come off the rails with the system. All in all, you’re looking at three guys that have been pretty accurate.

“They’re very conscientious guys. They understand protections and all. The other night I hit Ty Thompson up and said, ‘Hey, we’re in this protection. You talk to me and tell me who’s got who and what do you have?’ He sent back a two-page paragraph of detail. Those guys take a lot of pride in that.”

Brown started in the last two games of last season for Oregon. He made his debut in the Pac-12 Championship Game, leading the Ducks to a victory over USC. He also played in the Fiesta Bowl.

Thompson, the No. 36 overall prospect in On3’s 2021 recruiting rankings, seems the mostly likely of the freshmen to beat him out. The other two in contention are Jay Butterfield and Robby Ashford.

“Anthony had a really good day today,” Cristobal said. “It’s tight. It’s one of those deals where somebody is going to be disappointed. That part is not as fun, but it is real. If you look at it for what it is, every one of those quarterbacks should be enthused about their future. They’ve all got a shot to be the guy and to be the guy competing against the guy.”

Prior to Oregon, Brown spent three seasons as the quarterback at Boston College. It will be interesting to see if he can hang on to the starting job. The highly touted Thompson was also recruited by a hot of other schools including Iowa State, LSU and Miami. We’ll hopefully have an answer to the Oregon quarterback battle soon.

“Anthony continues to get better,” Cristobal said. “Anthony allows himself to get pushed really hard. That’s how we work here. Right now we’re playing in an empty stadium, but soon it’ll be filled up and people are going to be making a lot of noise. It’s going to make things difficult.

“We have to create that type of pressure and see what type of response we get by being very precise. They’re getting there, but Anthony is pushing it as well. As the gap closes, there’s also push on the other side.”