EUGENE — Jim Mastro sees a stark difference in Oregon’s offense.
Last year was foundational, focused on implementation of offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo’s scheme, its plays and principles, and incorporating newer players into it.
The Ducks’ running backs coach drew an analogy from academia to illustrate the difference from 2018 to now, with Oregon having 10 starters back on offense.
“You’re kind of 400-level football this year,” Mastro said. “Last year we were trying to figure it out. This year, you’re advanced. We’re doing things that you could never do Year 1 of putting an offense in. We’re definitely way ahead of the game and that (offensive line) group controls it. They’re the key to the whole thing. ...
“Offensively you can put more in, do more things, have more tweaks in your offense now that these guys understand it. They’re all back. You’re ahead of the game. You didn’t have to worry about installing from step 1, you kind of started at step 7. It’s a great problem to have.”
An experienced group of returning starters is taking the emphasis on preparation to heart, and that is part of what is making Oregon to be more advanced offensively. Experience is more significant on the line than any other position group on offense, but those factors have limitations, as offensive line coach Alex Mirabal is the first to point out.
“Experience is overrated in my opinion,” Mirabal said. “Experience has nothing to do with preparation. You’ve still got to prepare whether you’re a guy who has started 38 games like some of these guys have or a guy who has only started 13 or five, whatever it is. Experience doesn’t do anything. Experience is what happened in the past, it’s what you do now and what you do going forward. It’s about continuing to prepare.”
An experienced group of returning starters is taking the emphasis on preparation to heart and that is part of what is making Oregon more advanced offensively.
“I think it’s a big credit to Jake Hanson,” left guard Shane Lemieux said of Oregon’s center. “He’s a wizard. He’s so smart, he knows everything with offensive line play. He’ll pick up little calls, little switches that we weren’t picking up last year. He’s very detailed the way he does things and he’s really good at organizing what we do, making points, adjusting the offensive schemes in pass protection, run blocking and working with Justin (Herbert) too. He sees something that Justin should probably know, he’ll throw it up and let Justin know. It’s Jake and Justin working together.”
Hanson is certainly a major player in the whole operation. He said Herbert also has more freedom this year to made adjustments at the line of scrimmage.
“I’ve seen this year they’ve been giving Justin a lot more command of the offense as far as audibles go and reading defense and seeing what kind of looks he likes,” Hanson said. “We have opportunities to audible and change plays based off of looks. I think that’s the biggest difference I’ve seen as far as using that veteran leadership.”
In the case of Hanson, Lemieux, Calvin Throckmorton and Brady Aiello in particular, Herbert has been playing behind the same core group for several years. The signal caller is clearly comfortable with them and Penei Sewell and Dallas Warmack, calling it an “honor” to play behind them.
“I think a great offensive line, some running backs and some guys on the outside making some plays has been huge for us,” Herbert said. “It’s a group of guys that we’re comfortable with and that we’re excited to be around.”
Arroyo said protection up front is just one example of the offense’s progress.
Perhaps where experience becomes most useful is in building on the base offensive plays and adding to them, opening the playbook to more possibilities.
“I think that you’ve got a little more of the playbook because guys have heard it for the first time,” Arroyo said. “They’ve been excited about that. It’s been really good, they’ve worked on that since spring and gone into summer and I think camp, they’ve done a really nice job continuing that.”
As much as the line and Herbert are crucial to the offense’s performance, Oregon is still a run-heavy team. Having CJ Verdell, Travis Dye, Cyrus Habibi-Likio and Darrian Felix all back for their sophomore seasons is another benefit.
“The game has slowed down tremendously for me just because I know everything,” Dye said. “I’m moving and grooving with the offense and feel so much more ahead than last year. It’s so crazy. Even think about it how we were last year to this year, right at this spot, it’s way, way far ahead.”
Coach Mario Cristobal sees some of it as a natural progression and evolution. Players are past the steps of learning the basics and have deeper understanding of why their jobs have to be executed in certain ways for a play to work as intended.
“I think any time you have more time together, you get to really sharpen up the things that you feel that you’re good at and you get to work at the complements that can really help your offense continue to grow and evolve,” Cristobal said. “I think that’s a benefit of having guys be together for a second year in a row and having a good amount of returning players as well that have experience. Terminology is not an issue. You can build a library and certainly make some advancements in those areas.”