WATCH: Matt Powledge Talks Transition to Oregon, Working With Defensive Backs
Oregon Safeties Coach Matt Powledge met with reporters in Eugene following the tenth practice of the spring. He offered up his thoughts on the safeties group, his relationship with Dan Lanning and a variety of other points.
On Bennett Williams
"Very versatile player. I think Bennett can do multiple things, just because of his athletic ability, but also just his mental makeup. So I think at the end of the day he'll be a huge asset for our defense. We'll be able to we'll be able to utilize his skill set on the field, probably in multiple ways."
On Trikweze Bridges, Bryan Addison, Position Versatility
"That's one of the things that's really stood out with our secondary. You got Bennet, you got Trikweze, you got Bryan--those guys, man, they're long, they can run, they're athletic, but they also have a great mental aspect that they bring to the game. And so their versatility is really going to help us right now for us. We're trying to duel train, so we can get the five best guys out there and at the same time, we can build depth at multiple positions. So it's been really good this spring. I think they've really taken ownership in some of those things. And I think you'll see a lot of growth from them in this upcoming season."
On his favorite part of practice
"All of it. It's probably hard to pinpoint. I really enjoy the competition periods. We've done a lot of that recently, especially situational football, we want to be situational experts. Coach Lanning has really scripted a lot of two minute, red area, third down, second down to third down. That way our players can get a feel for it before we ever get to Saturdays right. They kind of know what to be thinking, how to play certain things, and at the same time maybe even anticipating calls that come out and stuff like that."
On how beneficial it is to practice situational football with new staff
"Huge. It's probably helped us just as much as it's helped them to be honest. That way we can kind of get a feel for each other and kind of what we're thinking, or what Coach Tosh is thinking what Coach Lanning is thinking. We've definitely studied that like in spring break we kind of went through with Coach Lanning how maybe he would call a game at Georgia-- what he's thinking call wise and these different situations, maybe field zone related, maybe down and distance related. Maybe portions of the game related as far as like quarters and time on the clock."
Join the Community
Follow Max on Twitter: @mtorressports
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter to have the latest Oregon Ducks news sent directly to your inbox
