Bridges making smooth transition to cornerback

It’s no secret that Oregon signed Trikweze Bridges with the intention of him playing safety. 

He had offers from Alabama and Florida to play the position, and it was easy to imagine him becoming a physical, well-rounded star there once his long 6-3 frame filled out. Mario Cristobal and his staff had every intention of letting Bridges grow and develop as a safety prospect with hopes that he would eventually become an impact player there. 

Until one workout that proved to change the trajectory of his career in Eugene. 

“One day we put him up to the line of scrimmage to press some guys,” Cristobal said. “He could press, flip his hips and run. All of a sudden he’s running almost 22 miles per-hour in the offseason.”

So began Bridges’ transition to cornerback. The early returns have been extremely promising. 

Bridges has drawn rave reviews this week, with coaches and teammates speaking glowingly about his unique physicality and ability to adjust quickly. 

Now, with a few question marks remaining in the secondary after the suspension of Jamal Hill and DJ James, Bridges is in contention to play a major role early in the season for the Ducks. He already figured to win the backup job at field corner, but now could see his role expand if James does ultimately miss a large portion of the season. 

“It was a big transformation for me,” Bridges said. “Just learning my technique and still working on my body and stuff like that, that was the big thing for me moving to corner.”

Cristobal said a large part of what made the switch to the perimeter so smooth is Bridges’ ability effort to transform his body and become an athlete who is capable of quickly moving and redirecting. 

“He’s addicted to improvement,” Cristobal said. “Tremendous human being who is really well-liked by his teammates, and he’s a really hard worker. It’s a good combination when you’re 6-3 and 195 pounds. All of those things combined, it really led to a great spring and a great camp so far.”

The ability to deploy Bridges at corner has Oregon’s coaching staff excited about the matchup possibilities that his skill set provides. 

“I thought he did a really nice job in the springtime,” Oregon defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said. “He is a longer type of body. We don’t have a lot of those at the corner position. So when teams want to match up with a 6-3, 6-5 receiver, he’s a guy who can match up physically. So we like that.”

Bridges said the most difficult part of making the position switch was learning the technique and adjusting to the physical differences between playing safety and corner. 

But he’s closed that gap quickly, in large part because he is “a football junkie and a film junkie” according to Cristobal. 

“In high school I was playing more off of talent,” Bridges said. “Now it’s much more about technique. It’s been a big transformation.”