By Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

Venue: Autzen Stadium

Format: Scrimmage

The Ducks wrapped up preseason camp with their second scrimmage of the month this morning in Autzen Stadium. Overall the major themes were similar to the first scrimmage nine days earlier – the offense limited turnovers but had too many penalties, and both Jeff Lockie and Vernon Adams were about even in terms of offensive productivity when each was on the field.

In total there were nine touchdowns; in a change from last week's scrimmage that featured a number of athletic TD catches by receivers, the first six today were scored on run plays. Taylor Alie directed the first two scoring drives, the first coming on a 46-yard run by Jarret LaCoste. A few minutes later, Alie converted two second-and-long situations – Jake McCreath hurdled a defender after one reception, and Malik Lovette's downfield blocking sprung Zac Schuller for a long gain – before Taj Griffin scored on a short TD run.

Griffin added an electric 30-yard touchdown run during the next sequence, following what ended up being the lone turnover of either scrimmage, as Dylan Kane picked off an Adams pass in the end zone. Travis Jonsen then directed a drive that required overcoming a holding penalty and converting on fourth down, culminating in a TD run by J.J. Jones. Kani Benoit scored from 27 yards out on the next possession, and Tony Brooks-James kept the offensive momentum going with a 14-yard carry to the 1-yard line, followed by a 1-yard TD plunge.

The last few possessions were run in the red zone, and Adams finally provided a touchdown through the air by backpedaling from the pass rush and lofting a touch pass that Lovette hauled in for the score. Adams connected on another TD pass, a frozen rope to McCreath in the end zone, before Lockie closed the day by scrambling out to his left and then lofting a pass that Kirk Merritt caught in the end zone.

Not to be overlooked was perfect field-goal kicking by Aidan Schneider and Matt Wogan, from a variety of spots on the field. And a number of defensive guys were in on multiple plays, from Johnny Ragin III to Jimmie Swain to Arrion Springs, who couldn't hang on to an early interception chance of a ball thrown by Adams.

But obviously at this point there's huge interest in the quarterback battle, which coaches will now meet to resolve as the Ducks transition to the start of regular-season practices Saturday. Overall in the scrimmage, Adams and Lockie each led three scoring drives, Alie led two and Jonsen directed the one.

Afterwards, UO offensive coordinator Scott Frost said coaches will consider the entirety of fall camp when making a decision at quarterback.

“I did everything I could,” Lockie said. “Played hard every day, gave everything I had, and it's kind of out of my hands at this point.”

One of the stories coming out of the first scrimmage was a lack of tempo by the offense. They showed improvements during practices in between, but Thursday a number of procedure penalties kept the Ducks from getting much rhythm going.

There were perhaps a half-dozen false starts and illegal blocks called by the officiating crew on hand, about half on true freshmen. Two freshmen were also a couple of the culprits when, during punt drills, three straight reps were flagged for kick catch interference.

“A lot of them were young players, and they'll learn,” Frost said. “It's a lot more alarming when you see it from veterans.”

Other highlights: One of the day's most entertaining plays all the way around helped set up the touchdown run by Brooks-James. Adams was at quarterback, and the pocket quickly started to collapse as Canton Kaumatule, Austin Maloata and Jalen Jelks disrupted the line of scrimmage. Adams was moving around and did sort of a jump-stop and then hop out to his left, before getting off a 15-yard pass hauled in by Merritt – who was immediately flattened by Mattrell McGraw, but held on. Quality play by both sides. … Adams and Merritt appeared to have connected on a touchdown pass from around midfield earlier in the scrimmage, but “lead official” Mark Helfrich blew the play dead as a sack. Had it been live, who knows. …

Brooks-James opened the scrimmage by bringing down a kickoff returner at the 6-yard line. Then, on the first rep for the offense and defense, Adams stepped up in the pocket to avoid the rush and passed out to Brooks-James, who turned it into a 34-yard gain. … Adams and Lockie each took snaps with the No. 1 offense over the course of the scrimmage. … Calvin Throckmorton and Zach Okun each had big downfield blocks to spring long runs. They're both huge dudes, but they showed off their mobility in those instances. … Eddie Heard and Drayton Carlberg each tipped a pass at the line and added a tackle for loss over the course of the scrimmage.

Other observations: The Ducks went through their normal pregame routine prior to the scrimmage. It's always interesting pregame to see which guys are in the pool of potential returners for that game; in this case it was a big group including Brooks-James, Ugo Amadi, Schuller, Chris Tewhill, Griffin, Lovette, Royce Freeman, Merritt, Darren Carrington, Casey Eugenio, Bralon Addison, Charles Nelson and Devon Allen. … Though they were in that group, Freeman and Addison were among the regulars held out today, as was DeForest Buckner on defense. … During special teams drills, Ragin, Austin Daich and Swain looked like big-time contributors in the coming season, on at least three units each. Ty Griffin looks like a potential contributor on kickoff coverage, while Merritt returned one for a touchdown.