Will Stein Aims to Decide Oregon Starting QB in "Next week or so"

On Tuesday Oregon held their 16th practice of fall camp. Offensive coordinator Will Stein met with reporters following practice to discuss the ongoing quarterback battle and how the offense is progressing in fall camp.

Below are some of the top quotes from his media availability.

On how close he feels to elite execution, particularly up front

Stein: “We’re getting there. Our first scrimmage was not. Defense kicked our butt in the first scrimmage, but by the second scrimmage, it was much better. Guys flying around, doing their job. That was our main focus last week, was just do your 1/11, do your job. Don’t try to do somebody else’s job. Focus on your process, and then we can get all 11 playing the same call. We’re gonna give ourselves a chance to make plays on offense. So it’s been a much better week, much better two weeks. Not that the first week wasn’t good. It just kind of showed in that first scrimmage that we didn’t come out. We didn’t play physical. We didn’t get momentum early against our defense, and it kind of spiraled in just to kind of a “meh” kind of day. But the last two weeks I thought have been really good by our guys.”

On how he’d define the quarterback competition, growth of the room

Stein: “Really competitive. Every single one of those kids comes in and works their tail off. And I know I keep saying that, but it’s a really healthy room. Guys are bought into the process. Guys are bought into each other. They’re their biggest fans, but they’re also competing and I’ve been in a quarterback battle before as a player, and that was against a first round-draft pick Teddy Bridgewater. He was pretty good. But when you worry about other people, that’s when you see it—Dante make a big play. Somebody else might say, oh I gotta make a big play too. No, just do your job. Or Austin (Novosad) makes a big throw. And everybody says well I gotta make a throw now. No, just do your job. Just run the offense. So it’s been great. It’s been really competitive, but I think it’s starting to kind of shape out a little bit for us, and we’ll see here in the next week or so where we’re gonna go.”

On how QBs have responded to competing day in and day out

Stein: “They’ve responded really well. There’s a lot of anxiety for everybody else about who’s it gonna be. But I know the person that we put out there is going to play winning football for us. And the good thing is, they don’t have to win it by themselves. We have a great team. We have great players around them. People that are bought in, a coaching staff that is as elite as anywhere you’re going to find in the country. So all they gotta do when they get their opportunity is go out there, run the show. Be the point guard. Get it to players, and just keep moving the chains.”

On who’s stood out as consistent at receiver

Stein: “Gary Bryant is one of the most consistent football players I’ve ever been around. He’s a complete pro. He does everything you ask him to do. He blocks his a** off. He runs routes at the specific depth. He catches the ball, makes plays, good with the ball in hand. I was really saddened that he couldn’t have an impact on our team like he wanted to, like we wanted to last season because of injuries. And I would have loved to have him Tez (Johnson), Traeshon (Holden), all those guys out there have been working together, but obviously injuries plagued him last season, so I think he’s in a great spot mentally, physically. He’s super gifted. I mean, the guys made plays here in ’23 and he had 40 something catches, 500 yards. He’s extremely consistent, and it starts with his prep. He’s definitely I would say the leader of that group, and not just vocally, but just how he approaches every single day.”

On what he learned about having a young starting quarterback previously in his career

Stein: “The last time it’s been like this for me was honestly in 2018 at Lake Travis High School. I took over, a kid named Hudson Card was a receiver the year prior, and took over as a starting quarterback in 2018 at a powerhouse in the state of Texas, and we end up having a great year. And it’s it’s a lot of fun to have this type of challenge. The good thing is that when you have people that are bought in, that are about the process, that are smart, tough, dependable and extremely talented, like our room, it makes my job easier. Now, there’s going to be growing moments throughout the season that maybe we haven’t seen here in the past few years. But there’s growing moments with Dillon too. There’s growing moments with Bo…. The good thing is, Dante is now in year two here. Austin’s in year three, Brock’s in year three, Luke’s in year two. That gives me a lot of peace of mind at night, knowing that I know they know the signals. They know the calls. They know the protections. They know our run checks. They know how we play offense. And I’m really, really excited to see them take off this year and and help us win games.”

On what he’s seen translate from Dante Moore‘s skillset at Oregon

Stein: “What I saw when I turned on the tape—-wow throws like, oh my gosh. Like, dang, that was a ball. When those kept showing up on the completions, some corner routes or scramble throws, you’re like this guy’s got elite arm talent. And I’d previously known Dante, because, if you remember, when I got here, he was committed. So I went to MLK and went to Detroit, like two times that I was allowed to when I first got here. So knowing him, knowing his family, knowing the people around him, his high school coaches—I knew he was about the right stuff.

“It just it didn’t translate to UCLA and not because of lack of scheme. I think we all know Chip Kelly is a great coach, and I just don’t think he had the players around him that you need, if you’re a true freshman, to go be super successful. So when he has gotten here, you could see his talent has flourished. He’s so humble. He’s willing to learn. He reminds me, he’s a great blend of like Bo (Nix) football IQ and Dillon (Gabriel) can pull everybody together, which is really unique and special. I think I’ve said it in here before, but he wears five, he’s got glove on his left hand I played with Teddy Bridgewater. He does remind me a lot of Teddy. That’s a lofty comparison for me, but he’s just got that kind of that moxie about him. That IT factor that people just gravitate towards.”