The Ducks could not get a green light from the powers that be to allow parents into Autzen this year.

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Early offer for a Northwest 2023 standout.

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Talked leadership, going against Jordon Scott, Stanford's DL and more.

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One last chance to talk to Cristobal before the game time.

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If these guys are tired after their workout, imagine how we would feel doing the same activity? 😬😅

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Ohio four-star 2022 WR Kaden Saunders has had a big junior season. One of the fastest overall prospects in the 2022 class. He is committed to Penn State and from everything I've heard from him he is happy there, but a long way until signing day.

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This one stings a bit for USC, Oregon could have been a player here if they had more space.

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I know you guys won't believe me but when I was his age my body looked like that. Many many moons ago.

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For 2022 from one of our favorite stomping grounds. We have him as a three-star now but my guess is he will end up higher.

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Coach gave what is hopefully some very good news yesterday when we talked about special teams. Here is what he had to say about something that really did need to improve.

Punting: "I don’t want to jinx anybody but (sophomore from Australia) Tom (Snee) has been doing an unbelievable job. Really excited to watch him play some live ball. He has come a long way, a tremendous person, great teammate. I know the entire team is excited about him.

"Hats off to (Mater Dei walk on freshman) Race (Mahlum) also. Race has made that punting position a battle."

Kicking: "All three kickers, (sophomore) Cam (Lewis) is definitely our kicker right now. He leads. Today we had another competition in the middle of practice. Taking four shots apiece, the whole team circling them and getting after them, making a bunch of noise trying to distract them. Him and (sophomore Henry) Katleman were excellent today and actually (freshman Harrison) Beattie has been as well.

"Those guys have improved as much or more than anybody in the program over the past several months. They did a really good job. Fired up for those guys."

Very happy for these kids...work hard, keep your nose clean and good things will happen.

From the Oregonian.

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/20...ps-to-walk-ons-ryan-walk-nate-heaukulani.html

I trust Cristobal on OL evaluation and he is not a guy to tell us something that proves to be demonstrably false later. So when he says he thinks he will have nine OL ready by Stanford, despite losing five starters, I believe him.

"I think we are almost at nine. I think by the end of the week we should have nine players that can start for us and play winning championship football for us. So on the depth chart you see a significant amount of or’s. Those are there in a positive manner.

"Today instead of alternating constantly what we do is take certain team periods and situational periods and work different guys and different combinations. That really helps guys work with each other and gel. It was a very successful day of practice with the offensive line as well as the rest of the offense."

"When they get Caoch Mirabal they get some high-level elite teaching. I’m Coach Mirabal’s GA. Just kind of help him out on the side. He does a great job and what makes it work is those players are completely in tune to what he is teaching and how he is teaching."

Here are my notes from today's meeting with Coach Cristobal.

Monday’s practice

"We wrapped up on Monday our Tuesday style practice. Finally, game week is here, very appreciative of that. Certainly, the excitement, the energy out there and the physicality is what we want for a Tuesday type of practice. So had a great day on Saturday as well with not only a mock scrimmage but situational work as well with the ones and the twos.

"We ended practice with a great moment for a couple guys who have put a lot of hard work into this program, a couple guys who came in as walk-ons who were placed on scholarship for this season in (senior LB) Nate Heaukulani and (junior C/OG) Ryan Walk."

Knock on wood – no new injuries

"Tuesday no practice with it being a day off for the players. Whatever they do is voluntary. Then we’re back at it Wednesday and Wednesday is a very physical practice as well. So for the final injury report, and what goes public, that’s at the discretion of us here in the program. But there is nothing new to report in terms of our health going into the game."

KT at Sam and DE

As some of you notices, Kayvon Thibodeaux is listed as both the starting Sam and starting DE on the chart this week. Basically it just means he won't leave the field much.

"He is a pretty versatile guy. He has a pretty firm grasp and understanding of our defense. We have been lucky enough and fortunate enough to develop a lot of guys on defense so our depth has increased and we want to get a lot of guys on the field

"His understanding and knowledge allows that flexibility. He has excelled at both and anything we can do to maximize production on defense we will do."

What the team expects from Stanford's O this year

Some of this is coach-speak but the Stanford offense always seems to cause the Ducks trouble. Here is what coach told me they are preparing for.

• They have a great quarterback that can make all the throws. Their wide receivers, they are about as good as we’ll face this year and have faced in the past. They have experience, they’re big explosive and they are fast.
• This is a really good offensive line and big, physical tight ends.
• Multiple tight end sets, extra tackles in there, unbalanced formations, downhill gap schemes, counter schemes, two-back power, play action passes then they’ll spread you out and chuck it all over the place.
• Oh yeah, and the quarterback can run.
• So their package is pretty extensive and the peronnell give them more flexibility than they have perhaps had in the past.
• Our defense I know is preparing as best they can because they know this is going to be a great opportunity.

More ‘ors’ than a canoe

I asked coach where there were so many 'ors' on the depth chart this week.

"The competition has really increased. Part of it was there was a lot more parity at certain positions. Guys have really taken it upon themselves to extend and push each other competitively to where they are making us, and this a great thing, having difficult decision to make. What you don’t want is to have such a clear-cut choice that there is a drop off at the position."

This guy.

I have the answer at somewhere between one and two points. Here is what the guys had to say.