Oregon Football Spring Practice: Defense Pushing Toward Fall Success
Oregon Defensive Coordinator Jim Leavitt is a high energy coach that expects the best from his players on and off the field.
The Oregon Football team is entering their final week of Spring Practice leading up to the Spring Scrimmage on Saturday. Defensive Coordinator Jim Leavitt is focused on the basics and getting his players ready, but not just for Saturday, but for the future.
The old staff is gone and there is a new energy in practice. Players and coaches have an extra pep in their step and Coaches have brought the energy, or as Head Coach Willie Taggart calls it ‘the juice.’
While the main focus for Leavitt is the Fall, he spoke with the media before practice on Friday and is happy with the progress that is being made so far this Spring, “Just try to get better a little every day with the fundamentals. I’m happy with where they’re at right now. Certainly, we’re not there, we all know that. It’s not all about winning the Spring to me, it’s about winning in the Fall. We’re looking at the big picture on everything. I’m proud of the guys they’re working very very hard.”
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While the expectations for Leavitt and the staff are high, right now it is about the fundamentals and making sure the players don’t get ahead of themselves or the game of football, ”
What’s really important is you don’t want guys thinking about a scrimmage tomorrow or a Spring game. You want them thinking about today…that they have a great day today..we’ll worry about tomorrow – tomorrow.”
In talking with Leavitt, his approach is different with Oregon than it was at Colorado, or even in the National Football League. The concept of fundamentals and good fundamentals has been the key of Spring Practice, especially on the Defensive side of the ball, ”
We’ve pushed a lot more on them than I ever did at the last job. I think they’ve handled it fairly well. They’ll drive me nuts at times, but that’s just cause the expectations are very high. We want to knock that ceiling out.
Jim Leavitt is a high energy guy, which may be attributed to his love of Pepsi, but he told us he tries to limit himself each day to three or less. The Oregon Ducks Defense is in good hands and I think fans that come out on Saturday will see the work that has been put in over the last month. It should pay dividends this Fall.
The Oregon Football Spring Scrimmage is set for Saturday, April 29th at 11am Pacific Time. It will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.