Oregon football completed their fifth of fifteen spring practices on Wednesday culminating a long week of drills and playbook installation. Duck Sports Authority was on hand for all the sessions, as the Ducks take a multi-week pause for finals and spring break.

In this edition of Jake’s Take I review the initial round of spring with observations and analysis of the action.

· The defense completed their playbook installation during the first five sessions. This was quicker than I expected and reflects the continuity of the defensive coaching staff. Instead of having to explain the system, coaches were able to spend their time on technique and fine-tuning spacing.

· Offense got about 75% installed from the estimates I have heard. They will not get their playbook in as quickly because it is thicker than defense, plus more new coaches on the offensive side.

· Seven newcomers were on hand: Freshmen Steve Stephens, Tyler Shough, Travis Dye, Verone McKinley III and Jamal Elliott along with transfers Haki Woods and D.J. Johnson.

· That means the coaches will be doing install all over again this fall camp with 16 or 17 more members of the Class of 2018.

· I spoke with Coach Cristobal about his focus for spring camp/2019 season and he emphasized cutting down on mistakes: Turnovers, penalties, etc. Good thing too. Under Taggart the team was among the worst in the nation in penalties to the tune of nearly 100 yards a game given away to the opponent. That makes it hard to win games against good teams.

· The concrete actions they have taken have been focusing on before the snap: communication, speed forming up and getting into pre-snap position, things like that.

· That is all great. But one of the big problems was with the culture in my opinion. Yes, the swag, celebrations and fanfare stuff Taggart promoted was fun, but it was not conducive to discipline, which gets reflected in things like penalties. I think the team and fans can have just as much fun with a more controlled exuberance on the field. Which is what we will see under Cristobal.

· New this spring is the premium focus on ball security. In fact, Cristobal starts each practice off with ball security drills. I think that kind of repetition and focus on that fundamental will pay off immediately in 2018. Yes, there will be fumbles and turnovers, as is the nature of violent contact. But I don’t know what more the coaches could be doing to prevent it at this point.

· I like the overall tenor of the staff this year versus last. Last year many of the coaches seemed more buddy-buddy with the players. While good relationships are important, coaches need the distance to be able to instill discipline and make corrections their unit is eager to implement. I prefer the “wise uncle” coach to the “slightly older brother” coach and I think that is more of what this staff is this year.

· A prime example is Coach Mastro. The first few days watching him work with his guys, I was comparing him to Pimpleton. It seemed Mastro and the guys did not quite know each other yet. Then the next few practices I realized that while that might have been true, it was also that Mastro is more of a traditional coach than the buddy coach.

· The coaches are implementing new equipment to practices. One is the boxing glove that the S&T staff uses to punch at the ball as RB’s go through certain drills. I like this. It really makes them focus on wrapping the rock.

· Other equipment I don’t like as much. The DL was using some “parachute” straps in one of their drills. Basically, one player wears a harness about their waist and another player holds a strap with two handles. One handle holds them in place, pulling on the other releases the strap. Then the player can finish his technique under sudden acceleration. In concept very nice. But in order to make it work, the guys have to get into the harnesses quickly. And their partner needs to know when to hold strong on the one handle and when to release with the other. Neither of those things happened. The guys took forever to get the harnesses on then in like five minutes, only got two reps each. Too much standing around. So the lesson is, make the guys become proficient with those straps, or any new gear, before they ever start practice.

· If you haven’t seen our photos from the sessions, you should. Photos 1 Photos 2 Photos 3 Photos 4

· Also check out our player and coach interviews: Jalen Jelks Thomas Graham Jaylon Redd CJ Verdell Aaron Feld

Oregon will resume spring practices on Tuesday, April 3rd and Duck Sports Authority will be there to bring you the scoop.

All for now