Five standouts from Oregon's first scrimmage

Oregon held its first scrimmage of preseason camp Saturday, and for the first time in a long time, a small gathering of fans were able to watch the Ducks at Autzen Stadium. 

Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said he and his staff were looking for communication, the ability to substitute properly and the ability to finish plays, among other things, during the practice. 

“A lot of those things showed up at times,” Cristobal said. “And other times it didn’t.”

One scrimmage isn’t enough of a sample size to draw too many conclusions from. After all, the Ducks have had just a handful of practices in full pads thus far. 

It’s important to view Saturday’s performance in context; senior quarterback Anthony Brown didn’t necessarily light the world on fire, and Cristobal was blunt in his assessment that there were a few things his starting quarterback needed to clean up. 

But with a constantly-rotating offensive line that is no doubt still finding its rhythm, and an Oregon defense that looked hungry from the first snap, it’s realistic to expect that the offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders. 

This story won’t touch on quarterbacks, as I wrote quite a bit about Ty Thompson and the rest of the signal callers here. 

With that in mind, here are five players who stood out.

Receiver Isaiah Brevard

With Troy Franklin and Dont’e Thornton in the fold, it’s sometimes easy to forget about Oregon’s other star freshman receiver. 

Brevard, a former 4-star recruit from Memphis, has been a bit lost in the shuffle during the early portion of camp — in part because he was the only one of the three who was not an early enrollee. 

But on Saturday, he stole the show. 

Brevard caught the only touchdown pass of the night during the live portion of the scrimmage, a 28-yarder from Robby Ashford. That was the third pass in a row he had caught from Ashford. 

He also showed a nice connection with Butterfield and linked up with him for another touchdown during a red zone scenario. 

Franklin ran with the ones, and Thornton was typically with the twos Saturday. With the depth Oregon has at receiver, that meant Brevard was most often working with the third unit. You can only play who’s in front of you, though, and Brevard balled out. 

He worked himself open time and time again, and showed a nice ability to catch the ball in traffic. 

Franklin and Thronton have been sensational during camp so far, according to Cristobal and a few other coaches. But Bevard’s performance Saturday was a reminder that they aren’t the only frosh receivers who will be battling for playing time this season. 

Linebacker Justin Flowe

The second-highest ranked recruit in Oregon’s history is fully healthy once again, and looked like a force of nature Saturday. 

He did not immediately start with the first unit — Dru Mathis filled that spot — but quickly rotated in. When he and Noah Sewell were on the field at the same time, the tandem looked every bit as physical and explosive as Duck fans had imagined they would be.

Flowe caused mayhem all over the field Saturday and seemed to hardly put a foot wrong. He constantly pressured Oregon’s quarterbacks. He burst into the backfield and forced quarterback Jay Butterfield to give a bad pitch to Travis Dye, causing a fumble that Flowe eventually recovered. 

He delivered the hit of the night when he destroyed running back Seven McGee. 

Flowe is only scratching the surface, and it will be exciting to see how he continues to progress throughout the remainder of camp. 

Running back Seven McGee

Yes, McGee was the recipient of a massive hit from Flowe. But other than that, the true freshman had a stellar showing at the scrimmage. 

He flashed a consistent ability to make players miss, McGee was so elusive that he left a few defenders gasping for air — once after taking a handoff, and another time when he rinsed a defender with a quick cut on a kickoff return before taking off upfield. 

Simply put, McGee provides the kind of shiftiness and speed that many teams in the nation would love to have out of their running backs. 

It won’t be easy for him to get consistent carries this season. CJ Verdell and Travis Dye each had a limited workload Saturday, and Sean Dollars and Trey Benson were both sidelined. 

But McGee made the most of the opportunity he got and displayed a ton of talent. It could be hard for Cristobal and co. to keep him off the field this season. 

Defensive end Bradyn Swinson

Cristobal was emphatic in his praise of Swinson Saturday when he spoke with reporters. 

After the showing Swinson had Saturday, it’s easy to see why he is so excited about the freshman. With Mase Funa out injured, and Kayvon Thibodeaux playing springly, Swinson got a ton of reps during the scrimmage and was a constant threat all evening. 

“This week at practice, he was probably the player that took the biggest jump of anybody,” Cristobal said. “He did it in the run game setting edges. He did it in the run game taking on double teams — when you’re a freshman, if you’re an edge player, that’s one of the most difficult things that you have to do.”

Cristobal said Swinson is progressing quickly as a pass rusher, and he pointed at the fact that he is young for his class, so he hasn’t had quite as much time to physically develop as other second-year freshmen. 

Cornerback Trikweze Bridges

DJ James and Jamal Hill are still suspended indefinitely, and there are a few holes in Oregon’s secondary as a result. 

Saturday was another instance of Bridges looking like he is more than capable of filling the hole at boundary corner. This isn’t just a matter of him treading water on the perimeter; during the scrimmage, Bridges looked like he belonged. 

The ultra-athletic, 6-3 freshman started with the first unit ahead of Dontae Manning and got plenty of run with the ones. 

He was solid in his tackling, and didn’t give up much in the passing game. On one rare instance when he was beaten by Franklin, he recovered well and made one of the plays of the night. 

Anthony Brown had Franklin wide open on third down and lobbed a well-placed deep ball that would have sent the receiver for a long gain, and possibly a touchdown. But Bridges leapt and got a fingertip to it to break up the play. 

The competition between Bridges and Manning will be one of the more compelling positional battles throughout the remainder of camp. Both looked good Saturday, but Bridges’ unique skill set was hard to ignore.