Is Kelly Closing Spring Practice to the Public Bad?

According to The Oregonian and media services director, Dave Williford, all spring football practices will be closed. This is the first time that any spring events have been closed. With many story lines entering the 2012 season, including who will be the next quarterback, this leaves many fans and people involved with the media upset.

This isn’t the first time that football practices have been closed to the public. Since the end of fall camp last season, Chip Kelly elected to have his practices closed. Perhaps based on this move, it isn’t necessarily a shock to see the spring practices closed.

It’s understandable to be upset by not being able to see new players such as highly-touted Arik Armstead or freshman quarterback Jake Rodrigues. The media wants to be able to give more concrete information to readers, not analysis on what’s happened by the words of Kelly. But it’s clear that he doesn’t want much information leaked out to the social media world.

This also eliminates pressure on new players as they get ready for the upcoming season. Sometimes we forget that these are simply high school kids that are coming in. As Oregon football has become a top prospect in the college football world, it may be better to ease these players into the world.

That being said, you can’t keep the players away from the media at all times. It’s a learning experience necessary for those who want to move on to the NFL. Their actions will only be more scrutinized if they don’t know how to handle a tough question or respond to something in a negative way.

The Oregon Ducks’ spring football game is April 28th.

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