Spring Camp Opens
Rick Morgan

As much as head coach Chip Kelly prefers to stick to the routine, there was something significantly different about opening this spring camp. The Ducks - and Kelly - took the first steps toward September as the defending Rose Bowl champions. Three time defending conference champions as well, but that January day brought something new.

So how did the first session go? "Awful, worst practice we've ever had," said Kelly jokingly going on to say it is much too early to have anything but a rough idea of what the 2012 Ducks will look like.

The quarterback position obviously attracts the most attention but questions about depth in the backfield and at receiver are additional moving pieces to the puzzle.

"We're always looking to see what you can do better," said Kelly. "The 'guts' of what you do doesn't change ... Jeremiah was different than Dennis and Darron was different than Jeremiah. You adjust what you do."

As for expectations for Bryan Bennett and Marcus Mariota - the two who are expected to battle to replace Thomas? "I just want to see them get better... that they are grasping what we are trying to coach."

Kelly noted a key factor working in Oregon's favor to sort through the depth chart, "We've got really good leadership. We've got kids like Michael Clay, John Boyett, Carson York - kids that have been here a long, long time and understand how we are supposed to practice.

"I think they've done a really good job in the winter time with our younger guys. I was really happy with our young guys how they stepped it up. Good tempo to everything we did."

The three early enrollees who were without the benefit of those winter workouts were encouraged to "jump in and start swimming, son." with Kelly adding "no one looked lost."

Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti has fewer questions to address in terms of returning starters but given the hockey line change nature of his substitutions, finding the second and third guy into the mix is the agenda.

"Our first group has played a lot of football," he said. "The D-line has the most experience - there's six, seven guys there that have played in a ball game. Linebacker? When we're all healthy there's five or six who have played and then those three corners. We have experience but I don't know if we have the depth ... to feel as comfortable as we would like. But I have a whole spring to get that ready."

Safety John Boyett is one of the anchors of Aliotti's group.  "I think every year our defense continues to get better," he said. "Everybody has to have one goal in mind, that's win week one."

That does sound a lot like it is back to work as usual for the Ducks. Any Rose Bowl afterglow lasted about "two weeks" said Aliotti. "That's behind us now, but that was something that you can relish for the rest of your life... you're part of history ... that's something they can never take it away from us. Now it's on to the next season, which it always is"