Oregon returned to the practice field in full pads for the second day as they continue preparing for their inaugural season in the Big 10 Conference.

Following practice LB coach Brian Michalowski spoke with media as did Jeffrey Bassa and Justius Lowe.

The Ducks will be off for a recovery day tomorrow as they continue working toward their first scrimmage of camp on Saturday.

Brian Michalowski:

On the linebackers this far through camp: "Very physical. We're flying around, we're playing with relentless effort, we're doing a really good job attacking the ball. Something that we're extremely emphasizing right now is how to get more turnovers on defense, and all the linebackers are doing a good job punching at the football. What I'm looking for is just continued consistency with the repetitions. Those repetitions are going to create that muscle memory for us coaches to know what to expect from them on game day and that's going to give them the confidence to execute on game day."On his expectations for fall scrimmages and beyond: "It all comes down to setting a culture on your defense and within your room. When you lay those expectations, you know exactly what you're looking for every practice, every game. On defense, it's relentless effort, our guys flying around the football. It's ball excellence, it's us getting takeaways and being aggressive attacking the ball. It's being a great teammate, power of unit. In the linebacker room, it's being a great communicator getting the defense aligned. It's being really dominant in our run and pass fits and being where we're supposed to be. It's being really effective rushing the quarterback and affecting the quarterback when we are pressuring."

On his relationship with Dan Lanning: "I've been with him at different parts of his career, I've seen his journey, I've seen how hard he works and I know the expectations he puts on himself. Those expectations are the same that I put on myself and I'm trying to match or exceed it, which is very difficult because he's very elite in what he does. It's great to come to work every day with someone that you've known a long time, that you consider a friend outside of football, and just have that understanding of our standard and where we're trying to push things together."

Justius Lowe:
On building off a successful spring and bringing that into camp: "Just not taking my foot off the gas. I made a couple big plays in the spring game, I had a touchdown, so just trying to carry that momentum that I had going into spring into fall camp."

On dealing with injuries: "It's part of the game. You just got to trust the process, know your time is coming, and just put in work day in and day out to see the field again. That's what I've been focusing on."

Jeffrey Bassa

On his mindset and being the first one on the field every day: "I'm eager to be the best. If I keep saying that I'm going to be the best linebacker in the nation, I've got to show that. I think that's going to pull me as a leader on this defense and on this team, and I think that's going to pull people. They're going to go 'Oh, okay, now let me try to beat somebody out there' and be the first person to the meeting room or be the first person to go to drill, to drill right. So just setting an example for the young guys and the setting a good example for the rest of the team. I think that's just the way I was wired, the way I was raised, striving to be the best."

On what he expects out of the defense: "I want to see relentless effort, that's for sure going to have to be the main thing, and we've got to take the ball away. I want to see the young guys step up, I want to see the young guys fly around the ball and have a lot of juice and energy and play with passion. From a lot of the older guys, I want to see a lot of leadership as well. We know what the standard is from the older group so now we've got to bring that on the younger guys."

On Jestin Jacobs: "Amazing teammate. He's a guy who's going to get in the building early and that's going to stay late, a guy that's always asking questions, always wanting to pick each other's brain from an O-lineman or a defensive lineman and communicate and get on their level to see how he can trigger and make a play fast. He's a guy that's real smart, real intelligent type of guy, sideline-to-sideline linebacker. I love having him in my room, I love playing next to him."