By Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

Venue: Autzen Stadium

Format: Fast Friday

On the third play of today’s scrimmage for non-travel squad players, quarterback Ty Griffin kept the ball on play action, sprinted out of the pocket and left a poor outside linebacker grasping for air.

Later in the 10-minute period, Griffin looked to throw long, saw open field in front of him, tucked the ball away and ran for about 25 yards. Griffin also completed two passes during the scrimmage while trading reps with Morgan Mahalak, and after practice Griffin showed off his arm by nailing a goalpost on the fly from 55 yards away, about 20 yards short of his range, he said.

Without a doubt, the physical gifts are there for the redshirt freshman transfer from Georgia Tech. De’Anthony Thomas was on hand to watch the Ducks hold their final practice before Saturday’s game at UCLA (12:30 p.m. PT, FOX), and if you’re looking for an athlete to compare to Thomas on the current roster, the conversation might come down to Charles Nelson or Griffin.

This week, Griffin took on the task of playing UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley with Oregon’s scout-team offense. “They just told me to make sure if there’s no passes open, to scramble, because he’s real good at that,” Griffin said. “Really they just told me to go out and make plays.”

Griffin redshirted at Georgia Tech last fall after completing 23-of-39 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns has a high school senior, with 1,149 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. That lopsided production on the ground might spur questions about Griffin’s future position, but he’s progressed light years as a passer in the last two months.

The first week of fall camp, Griffin’s mechanics were all over the place, and the trajectory of his passes followed suit. Two months later, he doesn’t look out of place spreading the ball around to give the travel squad defense a good look each week on the scout team.

“I learn new stuff every day,” Griffin said. “I’ve just been working, trying to get better.

“When I first got here, I had bad feet. That’s one thing I’ve really been focusing on, is trying to get my feet right.”

Along with working on his skills this fall, Griffin is eagerly anticipating the arrival on campus of his younger brother Taj, a running back who has signed a financial-aid agreement with the Ducks. Taj Griffin recently underwent surgery to address a knee injury, and is one of the first official members of Oregon’s 2015 recruiting class.

“My parents always wanted us to go to the same school, but we had different favorite teams,” Ty said. “But it’s a reality now. It’s kind of crazy.”

Scout-team scrimmage highlights: Mahalak had a couple completions to Casey Eugenio and also one each to B.J. Kelley and Chris Tewhill. The quarterback ran for a nice gain at one point as well. … There wasn’t much running room for the backs. Jonathan Kenion had a tackle for loss to open the scrimmage, and Jordan Kurahara added one midway through the period. … One of Griffin’s completions could easily have been blown dead before the pass. Ivan Faulhaber was coming hard on a blitz but pulled up so as not to make contact with the quarterback, as is the rule in practice.