By Andrew Greif, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Oregon Ducks spring football practice report, April 19

Practice nine of 15, inside the Moshofsky Center

Ducks in full pads

Media allowed to watch first 40 minutes

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Serena Morones/For The Oregonian

Highlight

Sophomore quarterback Justin Herbert was back taking repetitions with the first team Wednesday, one practice after sophomore Travis Jonsen had unseated Herbert for the first time this spring. In the 40 minutes media were allowed to watch Wednesday, Herbert began the first drive during the 11-on-11 period that has become an early-practice staple this spring. Jonsen followed, and both ran a number of quarterback keepers during their “drives” that lasted no more than five snaps apiece.

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Six observations

1. The "Duck" defense

It’s unclear how often Oregon will use the personnel grouping come fall, but defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt has used a hybrid safety/linebacker position to create more of a 3-3-5 look — dubbed the “Duck” — from time to time out of his 3-4 base scheme. So far, safeties Khalil Oliver and Fotu Leiato have been used closer to the line on a slot receiver.

The point is to put more speed on the field in passing situations.

“It’s a hybrid between the safety playing a linebacker kind of spot,” sophomore inside linebacker Blake Rugraff said. “We kind of run a good amount of nickel, ‘Duck’ and base, but I think (Leavitt) does like running the ‘Duck.’”

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2. The defensive first-team

The first-team defense during 11-on-11 Wednesday included: Henry Mondeaux, Elijah George and Jordon Scott on the line; Troy Dye, AJ Hotchkins, Jonah Moi at linebacker and Arrion Springs, Ugo Amadi, Tyree Robinson, Fotu Leiato and Khalil Oliver in the secondary. Thomas Graham Jr., the freshman standout at corner, was on the second-team at corner, opposite Ty Griffin, for the first time I can remember this spring, as UO made another alteration to its daily depth chart.

It will be interesting to track the line’s effectiveness this season. Right now coach Joe Salave’a is a bit hamstrung due to injuries to Rex Manu, Drayton Carlberg and Riley Green that have kept each out of practices thus far. Clemson graduate transfer Scott Pagano will have an instant impact upon his arrival this summer and veteran Henry Mondeaux would also figure to be a major contributor once again, but the rest of the rotation will be interesting to watch shake out as young guys Jordon Scott, Rutger Reitmaier and Hunter Kampmoyer, in particular, continue to progress.

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3. Special teams was just average last season

Oregon ranked 68th in punt return defense and 63rd in kickoff return defense last season, marks that placed it in the middle of the FBS. While the definition of average, those marks actually represented major improvements. Though Oregon ranked in the national top 10 in punt return defense during 2012 and 2013, it had slipped all the way to 125th by 2015.

Last season, meanwhile, was UO’s highest national rank in kickoff defense since 2011 and 23 spots higher than its 2015 ranking.

South Florida ranked 85th in punt return defense and 94th in kickoff return defense last season and USF assistant Raymond Woodie is now in charge of special teams at Oregon as well as helping Jim Leavitt coach linebackers. On Wednesday, he ran a coverage drill where two defenders raced around blockers before stopping a returner about 25 yards downfield. Results were mixed, and whenever a returner got away, Woodie gave the defenders an earful.

One of those returners, freshman wideout Darrian McNeal, has an impressive ability to change his direction while moving what looks to be close to full speed. The 5-foot-9, 160-pound McNeal fooled some cornerbacks with his footwork during throwing drills later in practice.

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Thomas Boyd/2014

4. Catch of the day goes to Connor Berggren

Late in the 40-minute period open to media, Oregon’s receivers made some eye-catching plays during a throwing drill against corners. Working on the left side of the field, Dillon Mitchell planted his right leg on a cut to the sideline that left his defender momentarily frozen, and it called to mind the praise Mitchell received Monday from corner Arrion Springs. Justin Herbert had a wide-open target on a 40-yard “touchdown” when Malik Lovette burned true freshman safety Billy Gibson straight downfield. The best catch I saw belonged to redshirt freshman Connor Berggren (pictured above, during his West Linn days), who pulled in a one-handed grab down the right sideline against the defense of Thomas Graham Jr. Berggren used his left hand to push off ever so slightly on the small of Graham’s back to create separation, then used his right for a catch that left teammates hollering in appreciation. This, of course, happened to be the one catch I wasn't recording on.

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5. Injury report

Not taking part in Wednesday’s workout was receiver Darren Carrington, whom a UO spokesman said was ill. Others who dressed but worked off to the side with athletic trainers and medical personnel included some of the usual faces — RB Taj Griffin, DL/OLB Justin Hollins, DL Rex Manu, DL Drayton Carlberg — as well as LB Keith Simms and QB/WR Taylor Alie. One guy who was back in the mix Wednesday after sitting out recent practices was tight end Matt Mariota.

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GoDucks.com

6. Coaching tight ends is...

Marcus Arroyo carries the title of quarterbacks and tight ends coach, but he’s spent nearly all the time I’ve been able to watch coaching quarterbacks. That’s left graduate assistant David Gilbertson, a young guy himself, to coach a bunch of young tight ends. The position is short on experience after the graduation of Johnny Mundt, Evan Baylis and Pharaoh Brown.

Gilbertson is the son of former Idaho, Cal and Washington coach Keith Gilbertson, which means that Oregon now has a graduate assistant who is the son of a former Huskies coach while Washington has a graduate assistant, Tyler Osborne, who is the son of a former Oregon assistant. File that under coaching trivia, perhaps.

Gilbertson walked on at Washington State in 2009 as a quarterback and played through 2013. He joined the South Florida staff one year later as an offensive analyst and in 2015 served as assistant tight ends coach. Watching Gilbertson lead the tight ends through drills Wednesday, there was no hesitation in his instruction. Under Oregon’s past coaching staff, graduate assistants were given a wide array of responsibilities and weren’t simply asked to accomplish the menial tasks the full-time staffers didn’t like. It would appear Taggart takes the same approach with his GAs, too.

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Sean Meagher/The Oregonian

B-i^

Co-OC and offensive line coach Mario Cristobal on the depth chart: "There's a reason why that board is magnetic. You get to move them quite easily instead of having a permanent fixture in there and I think that when you do that as well, it makes everybody better, it certainly does. If you go home going, 'Whoa, my job's on the line, this other guy is kind of creeping up right behind me and he's got an opportunity to take some of my reps, you're going to put in that much more time, it's just the nature of the beast. Human nature, if you let it, will absolutely destroy a program inside out because of what? Complacency. We won't allow that here."

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Coming up

The Ducks will close out their penultimate week of spring practices with workouts Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. Neither are open to the public.

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Andy McNamara/University of Oregon

Today's coverage

My story from this morning: Looking to avoid a repeat of last season's leadership void, UO seniors say the buck stops with them

Fellow beat reporter Tyson Alger, fresh off a sunny vacation to an undisclosed location, writes about the knee braces all UO quarterbacks are wearing this spring.

Also, a Q&A with sophomore inside linebacker Blake Rugraff.