EUGENE — Oregon's Colt Lyerla apologized Saturday for posting comments and links on Twitter two weeks ago that suggested the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy was part of a government conspiracy to further an anti-assault weapon agenda.

"Overall, I feel that I made a mistake in getting involved in such a personal matter on such a public platform," Lyerla said. "And I'm apologetic to my teammates and my coaches and the program overall for doing that. But on the same note, I would never want to discourage anyone from having their own opinion or raising questions like that.

"But for me it was a bad idea because of the position I'm in, so like I said I'm apologetic and I'm looking forward to learning from this and moving on with the season."

Lyerla admitted he was surprised by the backlash he received on Twitter and elsewhere.

"It's something I should've been prepared for but wasn't, obviously," he said. "But I feel like sometimes those things have to happen if you're going to learn from it, so I'm just trying to look at the silver lining of the situation and I feel like I learned my lesson from that."

On the field during the first week of spring practices, Lyerla said he has been "moving around quite a bit" at different positions within the UO offense. He was used at times as a running back in a specialty package last season, but he said he's not sure how exactly he'll be used this fall.

He's also not sure if this will be his last season with the Ducks. He will be eligible for the NFL Draft after this season.

"It's too soon to say," he said. "We'll have to see how the season goes. I'm just concentrating on what I can do to get us to win the most games and have the best season."

-- Adam Jude