Oregon Football: Willie Taggart Setting Solid Foundation For Success

Oregon Football opened Spring Practice on Wednesday and Head Coach Willie Taggart is laying an early foundation for success.

When the Oregon Ducks let go of Mark Helfrich and a staff that had been here what seemed like forever, they turned the page on the past. For many of us in the media, we too had to turn the page. It started with witnessing first hand the first Spring Practice on Wednesday. Before seeing the team on the Practice Field, Head Coach Willie Taggart spoke on Tuesday about what he expects over the coming weeks of Spring Camp.

Before seeing the team on the Practice Field, Head Coach Willie Taggart spoke on Tuesday about what he expects over the coming weeks of Spring Camp.

Taggart is looking to focus on the fundamentals, “It’s going to be competitive on the field. Each one of those guys will have an opportunity to compete. It’s on each one of those guys to show they deserve to be ‘the guy.’ Right now it’s about getting evaluated and graded every single day. I think those guys are fired up about starting(the process) again.”

Coach Taggart is not a fan of the word soft, especially when talking about Oregon Football. “I’ve heard people say that about us. It’s ticked me off. I say with our team I felt like we were a weak football team stretch wise. We’re not as strong as I would like our football team to be. It is something we’ve been working on. Not as developed as I would like from a physical standpoint.”

"To be able to say that we’re good at something, Offense, Defense, Special Teams. Then we can build off of that going into the summer. I want to make sure we have a technically and fundamentally sound football team in everything that we do, competing the right way, playing the game of football the right way. All the right fundamentals and technique that are so important.Willie Taggart on Spring Camp Expectations"

There is still plenty of time between now and the first snap of the regular season and Taggart knows he has talent on this team. There was one area he saw that was lacking from last season. The willingness to play as a team and for each other, “We have some players on this football team, players that can play at a high level. The key is for our players to play for each other. When I watched the film from last year I didn’t see that. We’ve gotta get into our guys they have to play for each other…to get this program back to where we want it to be.”

Next: Oregon Softball: Ducks Sweep Portland State

Oregon Football is in Spring Practice leading up to the annual Spring Game set for Saturday April 29th at Autzen Stadium.