Venue: Outdoor practice fields

Format: Walk-through

The tractor trailer laden with the Oregon football program's equipment for use Saturday night at Arizona State was packed Wednesday for the drive to the desert.

Unlike recent seasons past, a crew of UO staff will be on hand when the semi arrives at Sun Devil Stadium. That's in line with some road-game procedures preferred by first-year UO head coach Willie Taggart .

Last week at Wyoming was the first time since Oregon opened the season at Boise State in 2009 that the Ducks held a walk-through at a visiting stadium the day before a game. Once there, players and staff were reunited with five staffers who travelled as an advance party two days prior to the game, to set the stage for the full team's arrival.

Football equipment administrator Kenny Farr and two student managers now travel ahead and greet the arrival of the equipment truck at road venues. They unload the trailer on-site and have the locker room set up upon the team's arrival Friday, so players will have a sense of their surroundings come game day.

In a similar vein, assistant director of football operations Julie Reed travels a day early to make sure the rooms and meeting space at the team hotel are in order upon the Ducks' arrival. At Wyoming, an athletic trainer also made the trip a day early to get acquainted with an unfamiliar venue; that won't be necessary for Pac-12 road games, beginning with this week's trip to ASU.

The Ducks spent perhaps a half-hour at Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium last Friday. Busses took the travel party directly from the airport tarmac in Cheyenne to the stadium in Laramie, and players were unloaded outside the locker room before heading to the field to look around.

It will be a similar routine moving forward under Taggart, continuing this week with the road trip to Arizona.





Practice observations: As Thursday's practice was a walk-through, there are no highlights to pass along. … From the looks of it, Darrian Felix is in line to travel again this week, as is Jaylon Redd . Neither true freshman has played this season. With nose guard Austin Faoliu back in the mix after missing last week's game, that could mean some 13 true freshmen make the trip to ASU. …



Defensive line coach Joe Salave'a is one of 18 finalists for the Polynesian Hall of Fame, the organization announced Thursday. Salave'a played at Arizona and then for eight seasons in the NFL. Salave'a is one of 14 finalists being considered for his playing career, four of which will be announced as inductees on Oct. 10. ... Following the walk-through, players participated in campus move-in day, helping new students move into the dorms for the start of fall quarter Monday.