A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
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Ducks embark on 1st season under Oregon State puts 2nd straight
Lanning with yet unnamed QB
bowl on list of season goals
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
EUGENE — Oregon first-
year coach Dan Lanning isn’t
dropping any clues about his
starting quarterback this sea-
son.
“If I felt like it gave us a
competitive advantage to tell
you, I would,” Lanning said.
“I don’t.”
Fall camp has been a battle
behind closed doors between
transfer Bo Nix and redshirt
freshmen Ty Thompson and
Jay Butterfield. Nix, a fourth-
year junior, is widely consid-
ered the favorite to start for
the No. 11 Ducks, who have
undergone quite a makeover
in the offseason.
Former coach Mario Cris-
tobal has moved on, quarter-
back Anthony Brown is now
with the Baltimore Ravens,
and defensive end Kayvon
Thibodeaux was the fifth
overall pick in the NFL draft
by the New York Giants.
Nix transferred to Oregon
from Auburn, where he was
a three-year starter. The for-
mer five-star recruit started
the first 34 games of his career
before a season-ending ankle
injury last November.
Nix threw for 2,294 yards
with 11 touchdowns and three
interceptions last season. He
also ran for four touchdowns.
Thompson played in three
games last season as a true
freshman behind starter An-
thony Brown. He passed for
87 total yards with two touch-
downs and one interception.
“Oregon quarterbacks, just
like any quarterback, the most
important thing you can do is
be right with the football, take
care of the football because
possessions and limiting turn-
overs is the most important
thing,” Thompson said. “Mak-
ing good decisions, putting
the ball in the right spot.”
CORVALLIS — After
reaching their first bowl
game since 2013 last season,
the Oregon State Beavers
want more.
“We’re not a finished
product by any stretch,”
coach Jonathan Smith said.
“But over the four years be-
ing here as the head coach,
really proud of the develop-
ment we’ve had, the com-
petitiveness, winning more
games than we lost last year.”
Oregon State has steadily
risen under Smith: It went
2-10 in his first season, 2018.
Last season, the Beavers fin-
ished 7-6 — their first win-
ning record in eight seasons.
While the Beavers fell in
the LA Bowl to Utah State,
Smith recognizes the prog-
ress made and that they
need to build on it.
Some of the keys to suc-
cess have moved on, in-
cluding receiver Trevon
Bradford, running back B.J.
Baylor and leading tackler
Avery Roberts.
But Chance Nolan is back
and likely to be the start-
ing quarterback again. And
the lineup includes promis-
ing freshman running back
Damien Martinez, who im-
pressed at the team’s spring
game, and last season’s top
returner, Deshaun Fenwick.
“We feel like we have
a veteran group that has
learned now what it takes to
win. We’ve got a lot of those
guys back,” Smith said. “I’m
looking forward to seeing
what we can do this year,
understanding how compet-
itive, especially this league,
is.”
Oregon trail
Lanning came to Oregon
after Mario Cristobal went
home to Miami. Cristobal
went 35-13 as head coach of
the Ducks, winning the Pac-
12 championship twice during
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Oregon quarterbacks Bo Nix (No. 10) and Ty Thompson (No. 13) throw
during Ducks spring football practice in Eugene, Oregon on Tuesday,
April 5, 2022.
his tenure.
Lanning, 35, came from
Georgia, where he was defen-
sive coordinator and lineback-
ers coach for the last three
seasons. The Bulldogs had
the top-ranked defense in the
nation last season when they
won the national champion-
ship.
As for his goals, Lanning
tipped his hat to Oregon’s old
“Win The Day” mantra from
former coach Chip Kelly’s ten-
ure.
“Our goal right now is to
win today. I know that’s an old
phrase that’s been said here
a lot but it’s really true. We’re
looking for investments. Each
day, we’re putting money in
the bank. We want to be able
to capitalize on those invest-
ments down the road,” he said.
“That’s where it starts. Focus-
ing on Oregon.”
Remembering Spencer
The Ducks are still reel-
ing from the loss of tight end
Spencer Webb, who died after
striking his head during an
offseason outing at a popular
swimming spot in Eugene.
Webb, who had a large fol-
lowing on TikTok, was ex-
pected to compete for a start-
ing role this season. In his
career with the Ducks, he had
31 receptions for 296 yards
and four touchdowns.
“Spencer was a really unself-
ish guy, and he always cared
about the team. Everybody
saw that,” said linebacker Jus-
tin Flowe. “It really hurt when
Spencer passed. When he
passed, everybody just wanted
to make everything about the
team and just the culture and
everything, we made it even
more just for Spencer, because
we really loved him.”
Recapping
Early on last season, the
Ducks climbed into the na-
tional championship conver-
sation with a 35-28 victory
over then-No. 3 Ohio State.
But they stumbled at the finish
— a 38-7 drubbing by Utah in
the second-to-last game of the
regular season, and a second
loss to the Utes in the Pac-12
Championship game.
After Cristobal left, assis-
tant Bryan McClendon served
as interim coach to lead the
Ducks into the Alamo Bowl.
Oregon lost 47-32 to Okla-
homa State finishing the sea-
son 10-4 and ranked No. 22 in
the final AP Top 25.
Season ahead
There’s intrigue for the
Ducks right at the start when
they play Lanning’s old team,
Georgia, at Mercedes-Benz
Stadium in Atlanta on Sept. 3.
Oregon plays No. 25 BYU
on Sept 17 before embarking
on the Pac-12 season. They
host No. 7 Utah — the team
that beat them in the Pac-12
championship game last sea-
son — on Nov. 19.
Maturity matters
Although there has been a
quarterback competition in
fall camp, the starting nod
will almost assuredly go to
Nolan.
A redshirt junior, Nolan
started in 12 games for the
Beavers last season, throw-
ing 2,677 yards for 19 touch-
downs. He had a 64.2%
Leon Neuschwander for The Oregonian, File
Oregon State’s Chance Nolan looks to pass as the Beavers take on the
Arizona State Sun Devils in a Pac-12 football game on Saturday, Nov.
20, 2021, at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. Oregon State won 24-10.
completion rate.
“What I love about
Chance is how competitive
he is. I think he displays that
in his style of play,” Smith
said. “Being competitive in
the pocket but also extend-
ing the play, getting some
extra yards, gaining first
downs.”
The question is who will
back him up. The top can-
didates are Tristan Gebbia,
who started in four games in
2020 but didn’t play last sea-
son because of an injury, and
redshirt freshman Ben Gul-
branson, also sidelined last
season with an injury.
Road woes
The Beavers beat USC
at the Coliseum last year,
which was Oregon State’s
first road win over the Tro-
jans since 1960.
The problem was that it
was also Oregon State’s lone
road victory.
The schedule this year in-
cludes a tough game at No. 7
Utah, but the Beavers get to
host the Trojans and the No.
11 Oregon Ducks.
Construction zone
Oregon State’s Reser Sta-
dium is in the midst of a
$161 million makeover,
with construction to go on
throughout the season.
The west side of the sta-
dium is now a steel skeleton
that will eventually become
three tiers of new seating. A
new $5 million video score-
board should be working
by the team’s opener against
Boise State on Sept. 3.
“It will be a little bit differ-
ent for us in a stadium that
is half-built ... Playing a sea-
son in about half a stadium
filled,” Smith said. “But we’re
really looking forward to,
when (construction) finishes
... to be in one of the best
football facilities and stadi-
ums in the country.”
Oregon State expects the
stadium to be completed by
June 2023.
Mountain West woes
The Beavers open the sea-
son against a pair of Moun-
tain West opponents, first at
home against Boise State be-
fore a game at Fresno State.
Last season, Mountain
West teams were 6-5 against
Pac-12 teams, including
Utah State’s victory over the
Beavers in the LA Bowl.
It was the third time since
1999 and first since 2008
that the conference has had
a winning record over the
Pac-12.
Additionally, the Moun-
tain West champion has won
four of the past five bowl
games against the Pac-12.
The competition between
the two leagues should gar-
ner more attention as Pac-
12 faces an uncertain future
with realignment.
NFL looks like its old self entering
3rd season of the COVID-19 era
BY TERESA M. WALKER
AP Pro Football Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. —
Derrick Henry has been seen
jogging on the field with his
daughter after practice. Green
Bay Packers are once again
borrowing kids’ bicycles for
rides to practice. Fans are rub-
bing elbows with their favorite
players to get those coveted au-
tographs.
Yes, the NFL is looking
and acting like it’s essentially
back to normal going into
its third season dealing with
COVID-19.
There are no more trailers
or tents for testing, and masks
are rare. In fact, the protocols
devised and tweaked by the
league and the NFL Players
Association in 2020 and 2021
were suspended last March.
The NFL seems to be follow-
ing the lead of the CDC, which
dropped social distancing and
quarantine requirements last
week with an estimated 95%
of Americans 16 and older ac-
quiring some level of immunity
from vaccinations or infections.
The league still wants any-
one with possible symptoms to
speak up and wear a mask af-
ter contact with someone with
COVID-19. A positive test still
means isolating at home for at
least five days.
“I think we are always con-
cerned about everybody’s safety,
ours and the health of our fam-
ilies,” Tennessee Titans coach
Mike Vrabel said, adding that
2½ years into the pandemic:
“Hopefully we are past that.”
The biggest changes have
been the easiest to notice at
training camps across the NFL:
Fans are back and close enough
to high-five and shake hands
with players, no longer kept at
a distance and happy to resume
preseason traditions.
Players are happy to have
fans fully back, grateful for the
energy boost during the mo-
notonous routine and long
days of camp.
“It’s huge,” Packers running
back Aaron Jones said. “The
fans are everything. They’re
what makes football go, and
I would say this is one of the
best traditions in football, the
bike rides. I’ve had my same
little bike rider since I came in,
got to bring my son to practice
with me as well, so it’s special
to me.”
The Packers were among
the teams that allowed fans to
watch training camp practices
in 2021 at a distance, though
no interaction with players was
allowed.
Cheers are very welcome
after the relative silence the
past two years when the only
sounds were pads thudding,
coaches yelling and occasion-
ally music over speakers to
simulate fan noise. Families of
players, coaches and team staff-
ers couldn’t attend either, pre-
venting them from stealing a
few minutes at work with their
kids or spouses.
Henry’s daughter Valentina,
now 2, is the perfect age to en-
joy racing her father to an end
zone after an early practice at
camp. The two-time NFL rush-
ing champ said it’s the kind of
moment his daughter can look
at when older.
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