Ducks go to Plan B (OK, maybe 1A) on eve of season
Oregon sophomore Nate Costa had won a heated battle to become the Ducks’ starting quarterback, only to see that chance lost for much if not all of the season due to another injury to his left knee.
Costa will be out a minimum of eight to 10 weeks after reinjuring his surgically repaired left knee last week; this injury comes on the heels of Costa first tearing ligaments in his knee on Oct. 30 of last season.
Justin Roper will start in the opener at home against Washington on Saturday. His backups will be Jeremiah Masoli, a sophomore transfer, and true freshman Chris Harper. Neither Masoli nor Harper has played in a Division I-A game.
Roper, a 6-foot-6, 204-pound sophomore, accounted for seven touchdowns against one interception in the final two games of 2007, when he took over following injuries to the four quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart. One of those was Costa, who was on track to redshirt before he tore ligaments in his left knee during late October practice.
“Right now, he’s the guy,” UO offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said of Roper. “Looking at our track record with quarterbacks, I’d be very pleased if he got 100 percent of the snaps, because if he did it means he didn’t get banged up.”
Kelly said the playbook won’t change because of the switch in quarterbacks, and coach Mike Bellotti called Roper’s performances in the past two scrimmages the best of any Duck quarterback this offseason.
Costa’s mobility had given him an edge over Roper in their competition, until last week’s injury. The non-contact incident occurred late in practice as he slowed up on a run.
“I’ve been saying all fall camp, we’ve got two great quarterbacks,” running back Jeremiah Johnson said. “The only thing we’ve got to do with Roper is just keep his confidence up if anything goes bad.”
If Costa does not play this season, he could apply for a medical redshirt after his senior year in 2010. Bellotti is hopeful he can return for this season’s final month, however. It basically depends on what is found during surgery because MRIs were rather inconclusive on the total damage because of scar tissue from the last injury.
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Eddie
Sucks for Costa, since he was finally set to get his chance. He’s actually the better fit for the offense that they run, but Roper should do just fine.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:31 pm