On Ducks’ off-day, recharging the batteries becomes the top priority
For the first time since the middle of last week, the Oregon Ducks football program is waking up on Wednesday morning without a scheduled practice to attend this afternoon.
It’s the Ducks’ first off day of fall camp, and though players won’t be lining up for a two-hour practice with helmets and shoulder pads on, there is still much work to be done.
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“Organization with the coaches,” head coach Dan Lanning said on Tuesday when asked about what’s on the schedule for the off day. “You still get the opportunity to get in front of guys and have some meetings set up. So really, to me, it’s go back and assess what we’ve done already, evaluate that.”
While meeting and watching film and going through the non-physical parts of the game are near the top of the list in terms of things to get done on Wednesday, one of the main things that Lanning stressed on Tuesday was the need to actually get some rest. After embracing the strain — a phrase that is written and underlined on Lanning’s practice notecard — for the past five days straight, Wednesday offers a chance to hit the reset button.
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“Charge the batteries, make sure that we’re fresh for our players as well,” Lanning said. “I think that’s really important. You know, people don’t get enough sleep at fall camp. People stay up here ’til 1 AM. That’s not what we need as coaches or players. So we hit the reset button, make sure we’re doing a good job of pushing that forward, evaluate what we’ve done already and assess what do we need to keep pushing from an install standpoint.”
After the seven-day acclimation period of limited or non-contact sessions comes to an end on Wednesday, the Ducks will be back at it again on Thursday afternoon in full pads. With days of spiders and shells behind them now for the most part, the physicality will be ramped all the way up, and Oregon will start playing “real football,” as OC Kenny Dillingham would say.
You can bet that the players will be rested and ready to go.
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