Oregon football notebook: Ducks mostly healthy ahead of showdown with Washington
If the open portion of Wednesday’s practice is any indicator, the No. 6 Oregon Ducks will nearly have their entire roster available for Saturday’s matchup with the No. 23 Washington Huskies in Eugene.
The Ducks, who have been bit by the injury bug in recent weeks, were missing just a handful of players during the first 15 minutes of practice, which was open to reporters and photographers.
Star edge rusher DJ Johnson, who leads the Ducks with six sacks on the season, was full-go. Johnson was dinged up during Oregon’s Week 9 win over Cal and did not make the trip to Boulder for its Week 10 win over Colorado.
Wednesday marked the second day in a row that Johnson has practiced without limitation.
Junior defensive lineman Taki Taimani has been nursing an ankle injury since Oregon’s Week 8 win over UCLA, but was in pads and practiced for the second day in a row. His left ankle was taped, but Taimani appeared to be moving well.
Offensive linemen Alex Forsyth and Steven Jones were both in pads but were limited participants during the combo-blocking drill during the second period of Wednesday’s practice.
Forsyth did not play the second half of the Colorado game, but Oregon coach Dan Lanning said that was because the Ducks’ coaching staff wanted to get some reserve players reps in the blowout win.
Jones, who opened the season as Oregon’s starting right guard, suffered a left foot injury in the Week 2 win over Eastern Washington and has been sidelined since then. Wednesday marked the second consecutive day that he was in uniform and participated in practice in some capacity.
It appears that the most significant absence the Ducks will face this weekend is that of senior receiver Chase Cota.
He suffered a knee injury during the Cal game and has not practiced since then. Cota was the Ducks’ second-leading receiver at the time of his injury and has caught 24 passes for 319 yards and one touchdown this season.
Freshman offensive lineman Dave Iuli, sophomore safety Daymon David, and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Kanen Rossi were also absent on Wednesday.
Other observations
Alex Bales got the first rep at punter for the second consecutive day. Adam Barry, Ross James, and Lachlan Bruce also took reps. Once again, Kris Hutson, Josh Delgado, Chase Cota, and Preston Alford got work returning punts.
For the second day in a row, the Washington fight song — Bow Down to Washington — was blaring on the practice field speakers on repeat.
“I think it’s something to jog your memory and get you a little competitive during practice and get your mind right and get you passionate about the game,” Oregon quarterback Bo Nix said on Tuesday. “I’m not going to say it was necessarily irritating, but I think it’s a good mindset to have. Once you listen to it on repeat at the start of practice it kind of sets the tone.”
