All that's left for Oregon this month is Saturday's Spring Game (11 a.m., Pac-12 Network), following the conclusion of practice Thursday morning.

Venue: Outdoor practice fields

Format: Helmets only

All that remains of spring practice for the Ducks is Saturday's Spring Game (11 a.m., Pac-12 Network), following the conclusion of Thursday's 14th workout this month for the Oregon football team.

The last extended segment of 11-on-11 work Thursday was a microcosm of the spring as a whole. Arrion Springs had two interceptions of Justin Herbert , picking off the UO returning starter Thursday just as he did in each of the Ducks' two previous scrimmages this spring. But Herbert also had a rushing touchdown that must have been well-blocked, based on O line coach Mario Cristobal 's reaction, and Tony Brooks-James followed on the next play with a breakaway touchdown run of about 60 yards.

"I've really enjoyed especially how this last half of spring ball has gone," new UO coach Willie Taggart told the team after that period, following which the Ducks split into the two rosters for Saturday's Spring Game. "It's been back and forth."

Taggart was addressing the team about 48 hours before Saturday's kickoff, a block of time that doesn't include another practice but still will keep the Ducks busy. Their normal Friday morning weight-lifting was rescheduled for later Thursday. That was to help accommodate two community service projects Friday; the Spring Game's "Team Free" will visit the Eugene Mission, a local shelter, while "Team Brave" heads to the pediatric unit at Sacred Heart River Bend hospital.

This is also a big recruiting weekend for the program, in which the current team is heavily involved. Taggart said he depends on players to "pat down" recruits, searching for red flags.

"They can be great football players, but if they're bad dudes, we're not letting them in our football program," Taggart said.

Taggart also wants the Ducks watching over each other, in the coming weeks. The spring evaluation period in recruiting runs through May, meaning the staff of assistants will spend the month largely on the road identifying prospect recruits. That means they won't be around to monitor the current players; at some programs, that's when trouble arises, but Taggart addressed that issue pretty sternly both Wednesday and Thursday.

"After Saturday is when this football team will be made," he said Thursday. "Will we continue to stay together? Will we hold each other accountable? We've been doing a good job so far."

But first, there's a Spring Game to play. It's an early kickoff, of 11 a.m., which Taggart seems to favor.

"Wake up around 7 o'clock," he said, "watch 'Tom & Jerry' and go play football."

Highlights: The first interception of Herbert by Springs came on a deep ball down the left sideline. It was man coverage and Herbert took a shot, but Springs had the receiver blanketed. "Arrion's got it …" safety Pou Peleti-Gore said on the sideline while the ball was in flight, repeating himself after Springs picked it off. "Arrion's got it!" … The last play of practice, prior to the split-squad stuff to prepare for Saturday, was Springs' second interception. Herbert threw into triple coverage on that one, and overthrew his man, with Springs make the pick over the top. "Good job Arrion," Taggart said in the post-practice huddle. "You're having a hell of a spring." …

In 7-on-7, Ty Griffin had a pick-six that called to mind Kenny Wheaton, as he jumped a short route against Travis Jonsen and went the distance. … Later in that drill, Herbert had a long TD pass to Charles Nelson . Taggart has been on Herbert's case all spring to be more emotive after big plays, and you could almost see that occur to Herbert as he began to jog off the field, then changed course and ran down to slap hands with Nelson. … In the 11-on-11 drill open to media, Braxton Burmeister QB'd the first series with the ones, and had a long completion to Nelson. Brady Breeze made a great diving breakup of a pass over the middle from Herbert to Ryan Bay .

Observations: Springs also got called for pass interference during the team period. He had Nelson covered well, and the pass went just over their heads. But Springs added a late little shove of Nelson – his friend and roommate (at least at one point) – to draw the flag. Safeties coach Keith Heyward consulted with the official about the call, and came away saying, "I'll coach him to get his head around. That's fine." Presumably the contact would have been OK, had it appeared Springs was trying to make a play on the ball … Royce Freeman did some blocking drills with the offensive line. …

During special teams drills, the punters practiced rugby style rollouts, kicking on the move or keeping the ball and running if left uncovered. … During the 15 or 20 minutes of position drills, Taggart often spends time on the sideline mingling with recruits and/or donors who are on hand. That was the case Thursday, when a large group of invited guests was on hand watching practice. ...

Speaking of Nelson, he was the holder for some swinging gate PAT stuff, like the Ducks ran last year. … Dillon Mitchell returned from illness; add him to Heyward's squad for the spring game. But Malik Lovette remained with the first-team offense at receiver, along with Connor Berggren (below). The latter filled in for Darren Carrington II , who did conditioning drills most of practice with the injured guys.

Interviews:

Head coach Willie Taggart

Defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt

Sophomore linebacker Troy Dye

Senior linebacker A.J. Hotchkins