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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2005)
■ Duck football Defense dominates in first full-contact practice BY JON ROE! MAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER Haloti Ngata and Palauni Ma Sun lined up across from each other during Oregon’s third spring practice Tuesday. The 6-foot-5, 338-pound defensive tackle and the 6-foot-5, 365-pound guard collided during the lineman drill, creating a noise similar to a small au tomobile accident. Ahh, the sounds of football. The Ducks donned full pads for the first time this spring, leading to a gen eral growth in tempo, intensity and de fensive performance. But while the pace of practice in creased, a new offensive system and several young players learning new po sitions kept things from moving as quickly as head coach Mike Bellotti would have hoped. “I thought the tempo was OK,” Bel v lotti said. “There was a lot of learning on both sides of the ball, and that cre ates some indecision at times. I don’t think our tempo was very crisp. I thought guys were attempting to hus tie, but a lot of times guys were uncer tain (about their assignments). “Typically in the spring there’s a lot of ebb and flow about who has the ad vantage one day and who gets pre pared to make up for it the next day. ” Tuesday's most noticeable differ ence was the defense. After two days of soft play without pads, defenders were able to play with more aggression and passion during drills. “The first two days the offense had us on our heels a little bit,” rising sen ior cornerback Justin Phinisee said. “We couldn’t hit them coming across the middle. (Receivers) do a lot of zig zags and crossing. Putting on the pads, we were able to level them out coming across the middle, and it was key for us to eliminate routes. ” The defense outplayed the offense during an 11-on-11 team drill at the end of practice, creating at least three turnovers and leading to conditioning for the offense after practice. “I think it’s the mentality of our defense,” Phinisee said. “The history of Oregon defense is that we’re going to dominate the offense. I don’t care what they run, how they run it or who they’re running it with, we’re going to dominate.” One of those turnovers came when sophomore Cameron Colvin caught a pass near the left sideline and turned up field. Senior defensive back Demetrius Spates came up and hit the receiver, stripping the ball. Spates elicited cheers from his fellow defend ers when he jumped on the fumble. The loudest hit of the drill came when sophomore quarterback Brady Leaf’s lobbed pass proved too high for freshman running back T.R. Smith in the left flat. Freshman cornerback Sharrod Davis stepped up and made solid contact with Smith. The two ex changed a few competitive shoves be fore returning to their respective sides. Injuries Senior defensive end Devan Long and senior cornerback Aaron Gipson sat out of drills for the sec The Oregon football team participated in its first practice in pads Tuesday. The defense I outplayed the offense during the end of drills and forced a number of turnovers. Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer ond straight practice due to injury. Long tweaked a hamstring during the first day of spring drills and is considered day-to-day. Gipson injured the sternoclavicu lar joint near his left shoulder on Saturday and has had his left arm in a sling during the last two practices. He is also considered day-to-day. Bellotti said while there’s a chance both players could practice later this week, each will likely sit out until next week. )onroetman@ daily emerald, com .uor^go® //uosununer Get Ready for Summer Plan Your Classes Now! The UO Summer Session Catalog is available on campus. It’s free. Summer session starts June 20. Group-satisfying and elective courses, seminars, and workshops begin throughout the summer. Check Our Website. http://uosummer.uoregon.edu The 2005 UO Summer Session Catalog is here! Book Your Summer in Oregon Read it online, or pick up a free copy today in the Summer Session office, 333 Oregon Hall, or at the UO Bookstore Telephone (541) 346-3475 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Giants get win without Bonds BY JANIE MCCAULEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds accepted another shelf’s worth of awards, then disappeared into the dugout and left it to his teammates to win without him. Felipe Alou said throughout spring training that the Giants would find ways to be successful despite the ab sence of their injured star — and they showed it in their opener, against their rival and in front of a fervid sell out crowd. Ray Durham scored the go-ahead run on Jose Valentin’s seventh-inning error at third, and Jason Schmidt struck out nine in seven strong in nings to lead San Francisco over the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Ttiesday. And oh what a Giants debut for Omar Vizquel. The nine-time Gold Glove short stop, fighting nerves in the early in nings, had a single, a double, a walk and a stolen base. He also combined with second baseman Durham to turn a crucial and difficult double play in the ninth inning — Durham scooped up a slow chopper by Milton Bradley and made an underhand toss to Vizquel, who then leapt over Jeff Kent and threw to first baseman J.T. Snow. “I’ve been turning that double play for a while,” said Vizquel, who spent the last 11 seasons with Cleveland. “I’m used to making that. No doubt we have a great defensive team.” What Vizquel considered a routine play was cause for celebration for San Francisco fans, who have been starved of great shortstop defense in recent years. Edgardo Alfonzo, trimmer after a rigorous offseason routine, hit a tying two-run homer in the fourth for the Giants, favored to win the National League’s West division. “We have to come in every day and be positive,” Alfonzo said. “We know we miss Barry, and everybody knows that. But we don’t have to lay down.” Armando Benitez worked the ninth for his first save a Giant.
