Here's everything Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein said following the conclusion of Thursday's fall practice
Erik Skopil
Oregon offensive coordinatorWill Stein met with the media following the Ducks'secondpractice of fall camp.
Find out what he had to say by continuing to read below.
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Q: What can you tell us about Dillon Gabriel's summer?
WS: "Dillon and I stayed in constant communication the entire summer. He obviously enjoyed his time at the Manning camp and at the Elite 11, but his best time was here in Eugene getting work in with our guys. He starting to really master our offense, and it's showing in practice. It showed in summer. I think his leadership is really starting to show as well. He's becoming more vocal. The guys have really bought into him. The sky is the limit for him. He's an incredible person No. 1. He's an extremely tough minded individual and he's an outstanding quarterback. I'm glad he's on our team.
Q: What is the value of the DimeTime Retreat from your perspective?
WS: "I'm still waiting on my gear. That's what I told Dillon. They got all the hookups, so I'm trying to get all of his gear. They had a blast. Anytime you're able to get a group of guys together and are able to throw the football around and have some some camaraderie, enjoy your time together, I think it just bonds you even more. Connection is our No. 1 DNA trait, and to me that was a prime example of what connection is on our team. Kudos to everybody that helped Dillon set it up and it was really cool.
Q: What's next for Jordan James in this offense?
WS: "Just to continue to improve. When you look at him right now, he's faster than he'd ever been. I'm talking about real breakaway speed, which is very impressive. He's another guy who is now in year three in this system and year two with me, so the terminology and the time on task is at a point now where he can go run every route, protect every pass pro and I think he's a three-down back. He's an incredible player and I'm excited about what he's going to do for us this season.
Q: He mentioned breakaway speed was a goal. Did you want him to work on that?
WS: "I think everybody on our team is trying to get faster. He's hitting over 22 miles per hour in the summer. That's really fast and he's over 200 pounds, and he's aggressive and he's fearless. He runs the ball how everybody envisions a running back to run the football — tough, breaks tackles and trusts his tracks and trusts his training. He's going to have a really good for us.
Q: What are areas of improvement you're focused on this season?
WS: "I mean if you look at our rankings in all the major categories, they're obviously all really good. Penalties are something that killed us in spots. We always want to play clean: reducing penalties post-snap and pre-snap, playing clean and it comes down to turnovers and explosive plays. Anytime we can limit turnovers and have more explosives than the other team, we're in good shape.
Q: What have you learned about Jay Harris over the summer months?
WS: "Great kid. He comes from a unique situation coming from the level he came from to us, but he's always wanting information and he's always wanting to get better. The amount that we practice, the amount that we walk-through and the player-led practices in the summer, he's another kid that's made tremendous strides. He's nowhere near where we need him to be, but he's for sure on his way.
Q: Where has he grown the most?
WS: "Learning the plays. You come into this system and we have a lot of scheme and a lot of formations. We ask the back to not only to protect, but to run routes. I think route running was something that he needed to improve and then learning how to practice at this level, like what does finish actually mean. He's to the point now where I feel really good about him. I really like our room right now.
Q: What made you confident his traits would translate from D2?
WS: "Obviously, his size. He's a big kid. We wanted to add size to that room and he's got great explosiveness, great power and good instincts as well. He's a guy who moving forward could be a guy for us.
Q: What position exactly is Kenyon Sadiq in your eyes?
WS: "We want to get him the ball as many ways as we can. Early in camp, we're really just trying to re-install our base offense, but as we get closer to game weeks, he's a guy we want personnel specific plays for. There's been different guys over the years who've been unique like him. I think of the kid who just got drafted from Georgia, who is with the Raiders now. I'm not saying Kenyon is Brock Bowers. He's not there yet, but he has all the skills to be a player similar to him, in terms of true tight end play, out of the backfield and flexed. I'm excited about where he's going. He's had a great summer.
Q: How have Iapani Laloulu's snaps been so far? Does that remain a concern?
WS: "I feel good. Our first two days have been clean. We snap every single day. We snapped all the time during summer. We start with C-Q exchange. That's the first thing we do every single practice. We walk through a ton. He's getting a million reps a day. It just comes to game reps, which he's had, and just making sure we're ironed out. I feel really good right now. So far so good.
Q: How do you think Kenyon is handling all the attention this offseason?
WS: "When you've got Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert in that room, who are the best leaders on our team, they make sure Kenyon is right and that he's grounded. If you know Kenyon, where he's from, his mom, he's as humble of a kid as you could ever imagine. He wants what's best for the team. If you told him to go play right guard, he'd go do it. He starts on three special teams. The guy is an elite athlete. He's willing to do whatever it takes.
Q: How does Dillon show leadership on the field?
WS: "It takes time. Even though you're a great leader, you come into a new group and it's hard to just be that voice immediately because this is a veteran team. It's not like we were craving veteran leadership the moment he stepped here. He's had to find his way and find his voice, and I think it's started with his mentality. It's been come here and be humble, be hungry to work, get to know the guys, develop that camaraderie within our offense and with the entire team. You saw it this summer, his voice start to really impact on a daily basis. The guys look up to him. He comes ready. He's a pro. It's his whole mindset. It's hard not to gravitate towards Dillon Gabriel.
Q: Would you be open to one RB taking a high percentage of the snaps?
WS: "I think it all depends. We had D'Onta Foreman at Texas, a 2,000 yard rusher. He was kind of our only guy that year. Last year, we had Bucky and Noah and Jordan, and then Noah gets banged up and it was really the Bucky show with Jordan spelling him. It just depends. I really like our room. Jayden Limar is an underrated guy that not a lot of people talk about. He's super smart, super tough, very dependable, catches the ball extremely well out of the backfield as well. We're going to rely on all those guys to get through the season, especially going into this league.
