Oregon Ducks Spring Football: Ra'shaad Samples on Jordan Davison, Dierre Hill

Oregon running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples met with media on Thursday following Oregon’s second practice of the week. This is the first week Oregon has had players in pads this Spring.

Samples spoke about his room and his freshmen duo that returns as Oregon’s dynamic duo in the backfield. He also talked about his newcomers for this season as well as a hectic week leading up to facing Indiana in the Peach bowl.

On Next Steps for Freshmen Duo:

“Growth. They did that last year and really didn’t know what they were doing. They’re going through the maturation process. They’re growing. They have to understand who they are as players, understand their strengths and weaknesses. They were operating off of pure talent last year. They’ve gotten to be in the film room more. They understand the game conceptually, what we’re trying to accomplish, the moving parts of the offense, different spots. So, like, just growth. They should be key parts of not just, like, the backfield, but our offense.”

On Dierre Hill Improving Pass-Pro:

“Yeah, just understanding defensive structure, you know what I’m saying? Understanding rotation, understanding where to scan at, understanding what we’re trying to accomplish in protection, understanding fronts and defenses. And I want to say, man, I want to talk about that guy. He’s made an outstanding jump in pass pro and understanding defenses. I mean, he’s even surprised me. You know, sometimes I’m like, how did you know that? Did you understand what the defense was doing there? And he was like, I knew pre-snap. I saw the shell. I saw rotation. I saw what they were trying to disguise. And, man, he’s grown already in that area. He’s going to have to continue to gain strength as a young guy and work on his pass pro. But just the understanding of the game, already he’s taken a huge leap.”

On Replacing Veteran Leadership:

“Yeah, well, the honest truth is you whenever you lose a guy like Noah Whittington, like you can’t replace that. Right. So first of all, is being honest about like that’s the guy who’s been in this program forever, who’s a grown man, who understands the on and off the field expectation, understands the film.
Noah was the first one to buy in every day. So just meeting those guys where they’re at first and bringing them up. Also, you know, we brought a veteran guy in the room with Simeon Price, and he’s been amazing for the room already. He’s kind of filled a little bit of that void. But also the young guys have grown up. I mean, Dierre’s grown up. He speaks more. He talks more. Jordan has grown up. I mean those guys didn’t say a word last year. You know, they just were happy to play football. Now those guys are talking, and you add Simeon. So you do it by committee.”

On Offseason Additions:

“Yeah, Simeon’s a seasoned vet, man. I tell him all the time, he’s been playing college football longer than I’ve been coaching it. We got a little joke on that. He plays the game hard. He’s in the film room every single day. He’s probably up there already watching practice. He’s stretching. He’s encouraging the guys to do like yoga and drink beet juice. I mean, he’s a vet. So like he brings some consistency to the room and he has some ability also. T-Ball is a versatile guy. He’s learning and getting up to speed, but like when he does things and he does things the right way, you can see it, right? You can see the talent there.

Just like Dierre, he has to continue to grow and understand the conceptualism of the game. And I think Brandon has exceeded expectations for a guy who’s been here. I don’t know if he’s been here a week yet, but like, I mean, he made some plays today where like, you can just see that kid has a chance to be special if he, if he continues to improve. I don’t even want to say improve the way he’s improved. He’s been here a week. So if he can just continue to pick things up and, you know, play the game competitively, like there’s, there’s a lot of talent there.”

On Dajuan ‘Dink’ Riggs:

“Yeah, for Dink, the mental process has been really important, like his growth mentally. And I think he’s taking a step growing mentally. Obviously, he had an injury. He had a couple injuries since he’s been here. So just talking to that guy, how can you help yourself when you’re not on the field and guys are physically able to get better? You got to be in the field room, right? You have to communicate the offense. You have to be able to teach it and regurgitate the same thing as I’m saying. And so he’s gained weight. He’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten stronger in the weight room. So that’s just going to help him physically. He understands the offense. He’s a really smart kid. So like once he’s able to go full and compete and like he’s already out there and once he’s just back to his normal self. He’s getting back to it.”

On Developing a RB Rotation:

“Well, hopefully, man. Usually, you know, if you recruit the right room, like, you want to recruit competition. So, like, I hope these guys don’t get too far away from each other in the spring, right? Right now, they’ve all been competing at a pretty high level. And as long as they keep competing at a pretty high level, they’ll push each other. So I’m hoping to find consistency this spring more than I am find a starter or 1A or 1B. I want to find consistency. I want to find guys that understand the offense. I want to find guys that compete at a high level, that understand the standard that we’re going to play with and show that they can do that consistently at a championship level. The more guys that you got that can do that, man, that’s how you end up with a room like last year where you got a bunch of guys with a bunch of yards and you’re able to lead the nation and a bunch of different rushing stats.”

On Week Leading Up to Peach Bowl:

“Yeah that was that was a week like no other. We had had two guys that didn’t play running back the week before come over and we were teaching the offense. And it was a crazy week, man.
But it’s exciting. It’s part of the job. It’s what makes – it’s why they call us coach. How fast can you move guys along? How fast can you get guys up to speed? But you talk about a hectic week with a bunch of early mornings and a bunch of late nights. I don’t think I slept that week. I think that was the – that’s probably been one of my most challenging weeks as a coach for sure.”

Spring Goals for Jordan Davison:

“I mean I think Jordan’s ceiling is is really high you know as he continued to get his body together. Obviously he’s a big guy by nature even when he carries weight so easily and he’s so physical. I think you know later in the season what sticks out to me is you watch that Minnesota game. And I know the guys on our team now, we love them. But like that second level when he’s able to make guys miss at the second level. If he’s able to do that, right, he’s already physically imposing. So you don’t want to tackle that guy. I think we all know, you watch the tape.

Nobody wants to tackle that guy. But like if he can make guys miss in the second level, you know, if he can make guys miss on the second level you know if he can make guys miss on the perimeter he can become a real threat on the perimeter, I think it’s gonna be scary and vice versa with Dierre, like Dierre is the opposite. That’s why they complement each other so well, Dierre can do some things on the perimeter that like nobody can do. And so in between the tackles if he can continue to take his level play to the next level, those guys have a chance to be like some of the best backs in the country. Obviously, you know, they still have to earn the nicknames.”

On New OC Drew Mehringer:

“Yeah, Drew’s awesome, man. And the cool thing about Drew is I’ve been knowing him since I was 19 years old. He was my position coach. My first job, the first guy I worked for. I lived in his house helping meet his wife so you talk about a guy like that that there’s familiarity there. I’m really comfortable and and I know how bright he is I know how smart he is. I’ve been around him for a long time I know how he communicates and like I’m excited for him. I’m so excited for the opportunity he has to to call the offense and I think he’s just gonna like call the offense to our strengths. You know I think he’s gonna be really simple but be able to do things and make them look complex and be able to get guys in one-on-one opportunities and get guys in space. And Will was able to do that he did an amazing job at that last year.”