Football: Return of WR Griffin from
wrist injury may ease loss of Johnson
■ Continued from Page 7
The game was initially the sea
son-opener for the Spartans as well,
but Michigan State secured a date
against Colorado State on Aug, 29.
“The most improvement in a
football team comes from game
one to game two,” Bellotti said.
“There’s no question in my mind
that it’s a tremendous advantage to
play a game. Us being able to see,
and being able to do it, are two dif
ferent things. If they could >-ade
with me, I would in a heartbeat.
There’s a lot of things that we're
going to find out in a first game,
when you finally play an oppo
nent, that you don’t find out play
ing against yourself. So I’d like to
play a game.”
That extra week of playing against
themselves will give the Ducks
more time to resolve several posi
tion battles, especially tailback but
including the second annual quar
terback competition between se
niors Jason Maas and Akili Smith*
Smith started the first two
games of 1997; Maas took over for
the next three; Smith returned to
start the sixth game; Maas got the
call for two more; and Smith fin
ished the season with a streak of
four-straight starts. All of that
switching was confusing for fans
and foes alike but not, Bellotti
said, for the team.
“Both of those men want to play,
deserve to play and have proven
they can win, not just at the Pac-10
level but beyond,” Bellotti said.
“We wouldn’t have done what we
did last year, and I’m not just talk
ing about rotating them but their
accomplishments in breaking
three all-time school records, if
they wouldn’t have been able to
support each other, which they
did, if they wouldn’t have been
able to handle it emotionally,
which they did, and if it had been
any type of a divisive thing for the
team, which it wasn’t.”
The duo of Maas and Smith
combined to throw for 3,016 yards
and 31 touchdowns on 212 of 387
passing with 15 interceptions. The
pair led the team to school records
in total offense with 5,049 yards,
scoring with 380 points and
touchdowns with 51.
Maas said he would be content
should the situation continue, as
long as the Ducks are winning.
“It’s not a problem if that’s the
way it happens,” he said. “Both of
us worked really hard in the
spring and the summer so that one
of us could actually play more
than the other, but if it does hap
pen to work out that way, then I’m
all for it, as long as it’s working.”
Maas and Smith were two of
what Bellotti estimated at 65 play
ers who stayed in Eugene this sum
mer to practice, work and work out.
“Obviously it should help our
team unity a lot, and that's basical
ly what it comes down to; you can
hold everyone accountable,” Maas
said. “Last year we had 15 people
stay and we still did pretty good,
and Rose Bowl year we didn’t
have that many people stay. So it’s
not to say that everyone works that
much harder when they’re here, it
just unifies everyone.”
Another fierce position battle is
being waged at tailback, where no
less than six Ducks are vying for
the starting nod against Michigan
State. Joining Droughns and fresh
man Herman Ho-Ching as candi
dates for the job are veterans Kevin
Parker, Derien Latimer, Jason
Cooper and Jerry Brown.
Although Parker is listed at the top
of the depth chart entering fall prac
tice, the senior tallied just 18 yards
on eight carries last season. Latimer
is the top returning running back
with 115 yards on 29 carries last sea
son, while Cooper spent most of
1997 on special teams. Brown sat out
last season after severely injuring a
hamstring in fall camp.
Parker hopes to retain the start
ing tailback job after alternating
between the backfield and wide
receiver last season.
“I’ll be getting a lot of work at
tailback [this fall],” Parker said.
“That’s my job title. Hopefully I
can be the No. 1 guy. It’s going to
be tailback by committee, but
hopefully I’ll be the chairman of
that committee.”
There is added pressure on
whoever wins the competition af
ter the graduation of Saladin Mc
Cullough, who in 1997 set an Ore
gon single-season rushing record
in winning the Pac-10 rushing title
with 1,343 yards on 267 carries.
“He was the Pac-lO’s leading
rusher, so there is pressure,”
Droughns said. “All of us have got
to work together to get the job
done. That’s the only way we’re
going to do it. I’m sure all of us
would like to rotate in, but it’s not
going to happen like that, and we
all know that.”
Also graduated is wide receiver
Pat Johnson, who was taken in the
1998 Oregon Football Schedule
Date
Sept. 5
Sept. 12
Sept. 19
Sept. 26
Oct. 10
Oct. 17
Oct. 24
Oct. 31
Nov. 7
Nov. 14
Nov. 21
Opponent
Michigan St.
UTEP
San Jose St.
Stanford
Was. St.
UCLA
use
Arizona
Washington
Arizona St.
Oregon St.
Time
12:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
2 p.m.
1p.m.
2 p.m.
12:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
Place
Autzen
El Paso, Tex.
Autzen
Autzen
Pullman, Wash.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Autzen
Tucson, Ariz.
Autzen
Autzen
Corvallis, Ore.
second round of the NFL draft by
the Baltimore Ravens after accumu
lating 1,072 yards and eight touch
downs on 55 catches last season.
Helping to ease the burden of re
placing the All-American will be
senior Damon Griffin, who returns
to the Ducks after missing all of
last season with a thumb injury in
curred in fall camp.
The ligament damage prevent
ed Griffin from following up on a
1996 season in which he was sec
ond in the Pac-10 in catches with
43 and racked up 711 yards and
seven scores.
“I think the appreciation for
what he had and missed is impor
tant for all of us to see and pass on
to our other players,” Bellotti said.
“He’s tremendously excited to be
here. If you saw our spring game,
he was a dominant player. I think
he can do that every game and be
an all-league-type receiver. ”
Griffin tallied 188 yards and
three touchdowns on 12 catches
in the Oregon spring game May 2,
the Ducks’ last real game prior to
their showdown with Michigan
State.
Notes: Freshmen offensive line
man Mike Belisle and tight end
Danny Pulido will each miss sev
eral weeks of action due to injuries
suffered in the first week of prac
tice. Belisle, a Parade All-Ameri
can from Marshfield in Coos Bay,
will be sidelined indefinitely with
a sprained left ankle. Pulido could
miss as many as four weeks with a
broken bone in his left hand ...
Redshirt freshman quarterback
Joey Harrington, expected to bat
tle junior A.J. Feeley and true
freshman Adam Kennybrew for
the third-string role, had hernia
surgery earlier in the summer and,
according to Bellotti, is just getting
back into shape ... Ruben Vaugh
an, who missed his initial cam
paign at Oregon last season with a
preexisting knee injury, is still
sidelined after undergoing surgery
in November... Former Duck tight
end A.J. Jelks was cut by the
Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL on
Monday.
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