Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will return to Oregon for senior season

Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will start on punt returns as a senior.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian))

EUGENE -- When South Dakota prepares its first punt of Saturday evening's season opener at Autzen Stadium, Oregon senior All-American cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will trot deep to receive.



Depending on how often the Coyotes are forced to kick, however, Ekpre-Olomu might not see another return all game. With a rotation that could go six players deep, Ekpre-Olomu will be the first, but not the last, Duck to field a punt.



"We'll put all six guys in the game if we have six punt returns, just because those guys need live reps and they're very talented guys," special teams coach Tom Osborne said. "We probably have more candidates back there than we've had in years. But nobody's perfect yet so we're trying to find our best option."



Osborne could just as easily have been describing the kick returning rotation, where senior receiver Keanon Lowe and sophomore running back Thomas Tyner lead but do not monopolize the position battle.



The deep applicant pool for each job is the result of a fall camp where UO coaches say no one player showed the all-around consistency to take it for himself. The rotation is also in place to help minimize the hits Oregon's players will receive.



"There's a few guys like that whether it's (Ifo), Keanon, Devon Allen, Darren Carrington ... we have to keep an eye on them," head coach Mark Helfrich said Tuesday.

With multiple options close to each other in skill, Osborne broke the ties based on trust ahead of the Aug. 30 opener, and Lowe and Ekpre-Olomu were natural choices there, he said, even if their experience is rooted moreso on offense and defense rather than returns.

Kickoff against the FCS-level Coyotes is at 7:30 p.m., when Tyner and Lowe will set up deep for the first UO return of the night.



"We've got six or seven or eight guys who we think can help us there," said Osborne, whose kick return unit averaged 21.7 yards per return in 2013, which ranked 59th nationally. "(Tyner) is a downhill guy, he's not a shake and bake guy. He hits the downhill really well and catches the ball really well, makes pretty good decisions, doesn't get arm tackled very easily.



"He's got such a great burst of speed going downhill that's what you want on your kick returner, you don't want that shake and bake."



Bralon Addison scored on two punt returns and was the force behind Oregon's average of 12.39 yards per punt return in 2013, which ranked 19th nationally. He will miss an undisclosed amount of time after injuring a knee in spring practice, but Ekpre-Olomu -- however often he actually does return punts -- is said to be a capable replacement.



"Last year Bralon fielded the ball better so he was the guy," Osborne said, "but he doesn't have the speed that Ifo has or maybe the change of direction Ifo has."

-- Andrew Greif | @andrewgreif