Oregon Ducks play Wyoming

Oregon junior receiver B.J. Kelley doesn't leave the sideline often during games, but has become an integral part of the program behind the scenes on scout team. It's a role he says he doesn't necessarily want, but has come to see as vital to Oregon's success.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- When Wyoming lined up last week with only a tackle to the short side of the field -- a receiver or tight end having shifted to the formation's other edge -- Oregon outside linebacker Tyson Coleman knew what was coming.



"Every single time," Coleman said, "they ran it weak (to the field's short side). We weren't surprised. They ran it just like our scout team."



That feeling of knowing what will happen before it happens is also why, center Hroniss Grasu says, backup linebackers Isaac Ava and Grant Thompson are some of the first teammates he thanks after the Ducks have finished rolling to another touchdown.



"We thank those guys," said Grasu, UO's All-American senior center, "because they don't get any breaks at all."



Scout team is indeed a thankless job, and just like at any other program, Oregon's is comprised mostly of the young and the redshirting waiting their turn for their breakout performance in front of 50,000 fans, not a few dozen teammates inside a closed practice.



To hear Oregon's coaches and stars say it this season, though, the Ducks' preparation has been especially good because of the scout-team work of a handful of veterans.



Ideally, they'd grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, too, like quarterback Marcus Mariota.



Unable to make a name for themselves in the rotation, however, they've checked their ego and come to understand that they're more valuable mimicking someone else for 12 weeks each regular season.



"Grant Thompson and I have been doing this for the last four years, we've had our share of playing time and we've seen what it's like on the other side but we realize that where we are now is also one of the most important roles on the team," said Ava, a senior from Ewa Beach, Hawaii. "We've been a part of really bad scout teams where we didn't give a good look and we'd probably lose a game and our offense wouldn't do so good.



"We realize our performance is something to be proud of on Saturday when the offense does well. We feel a part of that."



Added junior receiver B.J. Kelley: "You can't look at it negatively ... People have individual goals and we're trying to reach them, too, but at a certain point you've got to give the best look."



Kelley earned scout team offensive player of the week honors this season for his work impersonating Michigan State receiver Tony Lippett, bookending a similar honor in 2011. Last week, he was Wyoming receiver Jalen Claiborne. This week the speedy Oregon junior will channel one of Washington State's half-dozen receiving threats, just as Thompson and Ava will impersonate the tendencies of the Cougars' inside linebackers.

Senior Ayele Forde, best known for his full-speed tackles on kickoff coverage, is heralded by teammates for his work as a scout, too. He shared defensive scout of the week honors with freshman running back Tony James after Wyoming.



"If they're going to do a certain route a certain way you watch it and try to mimic it so that a guy like Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will recognize it in a game a second faster," Kelley said. "



There's no tip-toeing around the reality of the job, however: No one arrives on campus dreaming of filling the assignment, let alone as an upperclassman.

"Scout team is not something that people would sign up for ... to go get beat around for an hour and a half every single day," head coach Mark Helfrich said.



Ava laughed when he heard that, because the demands on scout teamers aren't limited to practices.



A long meeting Monday morning kicks off the preparation. Anywhere from 20-30 video clips of opponents' favorite formations and plays are played and then memorized. They will be the basis of the system scouts attempt to recreate the rest of the week, starting with Monday's practice.



It isn't typically the case that upperclassmen are this accepting of their roles. Overlooked veterans can become locker room cancers as they get passed over in the regular rotation by young players.



"I definitely went through that transition," Kelley said.



"That is human nature, but around here there's been several exceptions and (Kelley) is one of them," Helfrich said after Oregon beat Michigan State. "I made a big deal out of that that a guy who especially at that position, with that type of profile, those guys guys want the rock, they want to play a lot. The guy has done a great job, not a good job, a great job, on scout team offense and special teams units.



"That's part of our special sauce around here is those guys realizing that everybody matters. Every single person in this building helps us get better."



It's a lesson Ava learned in 2010 when he first arrived at Oregon from Blake Thompson, Grant's older brother and another scout team veteran, who told Ava that if he considered scout team a minor role, he'd similarly feel small amid Oregon's football machine. And if he took it as a sign he wasn't a good player, it would be a self-fulfilling football prophecy.



Before any of his 14 tackles in 23 career games, Ava won special teams player of the week honors for defense and special teams in 2010, his first fall at Oregon.



He's tried to impart that to players such as James, and Jalen Jelks, a freshman defensive lineman who won defensive scout honors after Michigan State and earned praise from Helfrich Ava.



"You can't be down knowing you're not a starter or backup," he said. "You have to be happy you're still out there playing the game you love."



The love is limited from fans who will never know the scouts' contributions behind closed doors. But teammates know it, and show it.



"It's hard for them," Grasu said. "We always make sure we show them appreciation."



-- Andrew Greif | @andrewgreif