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Kelly kicks off 2009 season

The Oregon Ducks kicked off their 2009 campaign with Media Day followed by the first practice of fall camp. Chip Kelly opened with some comments, his players and coaches did some interviews, then they got down to business.
In Kelly's opening remarks, he gave some insight into how he would conduct his first fall camp as Oregon's head coach.
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Practice times
"We will practice every day from 2:15 to 4:32. All of our practices are open. When we do have a double-day we'll be on the practice field at 9:15 in the morning and we'll be off the field at 10:45. So it will be an hour and a half in the morning, then we'll be back on the field in the afternoon at the same time."
Camp roster
"We have 105 players in camp. Two of our freshmen are still going through the NCAA Clearinghouse (Justin Brown and Cliff Harris) and are in the process of getting cleared. We're hopeful that will get worked out but it's in the hands of the Clearinghouse. A couple of them are just finishing up a class and the grade has to be posted. The University's policy is that they have to pass the Clearinghouse to be admitted to the University so we're just waiting to hear on that."
Summer workouts
"According to Coach Radcliffe summer conditioning is as good as it's been since he's been here. Participation is not a mandatory thing but I think the senior leadership and the upper-class leadership that was provided by Jeremiah Masoli, Nate Costa, Jordan Holmes, Ed Dickson Spencer Paysinger, Casey Matthews, T.J. Ward, Will Tukuafu and Walter Thurmond. That group of core guys just did an outstanding job with this team in the summer time."
Waxing philosophical
"I've always believed that the two most important things for a football team are chemistry and attitude, and I'm excited about the chemistry of this football team. Our players truly love and respect one another and I'm excited about their attitude. They want to get after it and they're ready to go."
Practice conduct
"We're excited to see the position battles and competition in this camp. We believe ones against ones is the way you're supposed to do things. Iron sharpens iron and our ones are going to go against our ones. We're going to put Jamere Holland up against Walter Thurmond as many times as we can get those guys matched up against each other. Will Tukuafu is going to line up against C.E. Kaiser and Bo Thran and we're going to find out who can play football."
Other note from first day:
Four-star defensive back Dior Mathis was on hand with his father observing the first day of camp.
Duck Sports Authority will hit the field again Saturday as the Ducks conduct their second practice session of the 2009 season.
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