Oregon’s starting cornerbacks ‘starting to emerge’ midway through fall camp

In April, Oregon cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin was asked if he believed the Ducks have a true No. 1 cornerback on their roster.

“I’ll hold that opinion until everybody gets here,” Martin said at the time. “Everybody is not here in camp yet.”

Fast-forward 16 weeks later, and his answer has shifted — slightly.

Since the end of spring ball, the Ducks have added former Colorado standout Nikko Reed, a 5-foot-10 sophomore who was the Buffs’ top corner a year ago. They have also added a pair of 4-star signees: Rodrick Pleasant and Daylen Austin to bolster a group that features returning starter Trikweze Bridges and Alabama transfer Khyree Jackson, among others.

As Oregon nears the midway point of fall camp, though, Martin is still reluctant to identify who will be the Ducks’ starting field and boundary cornerbacks.

“Now that everybody’s here, it’s starting to emerge,” Martin said Monday after Oregon’s 10th practice on Monday. “Still not clear cut yet because we got a lot of guys making plays. It’s not on the negative end, on the more positive end. A lot of guys are making plays. And you can see them getting better really fast.”

At this point, attempting to project Oregon’s two-deep at the cornerback spots is a bit of an act in futility. That’s partially due to the sheer amount of quality depth, and partially because most of the players who are in contention for starting jobs are repping at multiple positions.

Reed and fourth-year junior Dontae Manning are both spending time at STAR. The same is true for true sophomores Jahlil Florence and Khamari Terrell.

“Just learning (STAR) is a big improvement for me, because I’ve only been learning corner for two years in college,” Reed said after Monday’s practice. “Moving closer to the ball is a big improvement for me because I never thought I would be able to do that.”

Bridges has spent time at safety in the past, but Martin said the fifth-year junior has been ‘mostly’ at outside corner. Jackson said during spring ball that he was repping exclusively at outside corner.

Martin and first-year safeties coach Chris Hampton each have multiple players from their respective rooms repping at STAR and dime. Hampton said earlier this month that the Ducks have ‘seven or eight’ players cross-training at multiple positions in order to prevent players from getting burnt out during the season.

“If there’s a safety that plays STAR or dime, they meet with Hamp,” Martin said. “And if there’s a corner that plays STAR or dime, they meet with me. So, we just cross-train them like that.”

Florence and Terrell both carved out meaningful roles as true freshmen last season and were among the most impactful players from Oregon’s 2022 singing class. But both are facing an uphill battle for playing time this season due to the veteran depth within the program.

Terrell and Florence have each been repping at STAR, which might provide the clearest path to playing time at the moment.

“Really well. They’re guys who are teaching them our characteristics, what we want to be as corners and stuff like that,” Martin said of how Florence and Terrell have handled to competition for playing time this fall. “So, I hear them helping those (younger) guys. I kind of preach all the time, like, ‘Hey, man, if you can teach this stuff while you can play it, it’s gonna make your game better.’ And they have kind of bought into that and they’re bringing in youngsters along.”

Last season, even with all-conference cornerback Christian Gonzalez in the fold, the Ducks’ secondary struggled mightily at times. As a unit, Oregon’s defense ranked 123rd nationally in third-down defense and 102nd nationally in passing yards allowed per game.

After the program’s first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday, head coach Dan Lanning took issue with the physicality and tackling of the Ducks’ defense. Even still, he noted that the unit came away with three interceptions and looked better as the afternoon went on.

While there are still some moving pieces in the secondary, Martin said that, overall, the defense looks like a much more cohesive unit than it did last season.

“A lot more connection within the scheme; a lot better communication, understanding when to use the certain tools that have given them to put in a tool belt when it comes up to different parts of the coverages,” Martin said. “Knowing to adjust to the different formations, things like that. A lot of that is a lot smoother. Obviously, with having the young guys, they’re struggling a little bit. But they’re coming along too because we got a lot more guys that know it on the field.”

The post Oregon’s starting cornerbacks ‘starting to emerge’ midway through fall camp appeared first on On3.