Oregon Offense Steps Up in Second Scrimmage

Oregon concludes its spring practice with three workouts next week prior to holding its annual Spring Game beginning at 2:00 PM Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

Quarterback Dennis Dixon Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - The Oregon offense grabbed back a measure of respect, accounting for four touchdowns and a 41-yard field goal, as they took charge for the majority of the 65-minute scrimmage Friday afternoon in Autzen Stadium as the Ducks concluded their third week of spring workouts.

Quarterback Dennis Dixon led the first-team offense on a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive against the first-team defense on the opening series, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jaison Williams.

Dixon completed all five of his passes for 47 yards while Jonathan Stewart ran four times for 28 yards to account for all work.

It proved to be Stewart’s lone appearance of the scrimmage while Dixon finished the day completing five of six passes for 47 yards.

Brady Leaf quarterbacked the second-team offense 74 yards on the ensuing series before the drive bogged down at the one-yard line.

But he returned later to lead the first-stringers on a 75-yard scoring march against the first-team defense, capped by a 41-scoring run by Brian Paysinger.

Leaf finished the day completing four of 10 passes for 47 yards, while both he and Dixon were each sacked once.

One of the most impressive aspects of the offense was that it suffered no turnovers for the second week in a row.

Oregon accounted for 17 turnovers in its last five games of the 2006 season, losing four of them.

“I was pleased with the way our offense started out but I don’t think our defense showed up to play the first couple of series,” head coach Mike Bellotti said. “The running and the timing of the offense was much, much better. We slowed some things down for them, we did some review. There are seniors at quarterback in Dennis and Brady who made some plays. Dennis Dixon, Jonathan Stewart looked good to begin with and there are some veterans on that side of the ball. I thought the improvement came at the line of scrimmage initially by the offense.”

First-year quarterback Nathan Costa also encountered some success, guiding the second-team offense on a 75-yard scoring drive against the second-team defense.

He completed two of four passes for 34 yards, including a 25-yard scoring toss to Rory Cavaille.

Redshirt freshman signal caller Cody Kempt also looked sharp, completing all six of his passes for 44 yards while engineering the final touchdown drive.

Running back Andiel Brown led rushers with 45 yards on five carries, including a 29-yard TD run.

But the defense fought back to hold their own late in the scrimmage, shutting the offense out of the end zone on three straight two-point conversion tries to end the day.

“Overall though, I was pleased that the defense fought back,” Bellotti said. “In the later stages of this scrimmage, they dominated.

“Brandon Bair’s energy, Patrick Chung’s energy on defense is infectious but the offense did have the better of it today.

Bair led all tacklers with four unassisted stops and three assists from his defensive end post after accumulating six tackles in last week’s scrimmage. Linebacker A.J. Tuitele finished with three unassisted tackles and three assists.

Cameron Colvin led all receivers with three catches for 42 yards in addition to carrying the football twice for 22 more yards.

But perhaps his greatest effort of the day was a grab that was ruled out of bounds when he leaped high in the air to catch the ball before being driven wide of the sidelines by a pair of defenders.

Williams also finished with three receptions for 42 yards.

“I challenged our receivers last week and we talked about the fact that they’re sort of coasting,” Bellotti exclaimed. “I think they took it to heart. I was pleased. Cameron Colvin made some plays. He still looked a little rusty to me but that was a great catch and effort on the one that didn’t count. He ran with the football, protected the ball, he can get better. He looks a little tentative still and I think he’s got to cut it loose because he’s a great threat on the edge with some of the things we can do with him with the option and with the screen passes and that sort of thing.”

Oregon concludes its spring practice with three workouts next week prior to holding its annual Spring Game beginning at 2:00 PM Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

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