NFL preseason games rarely provide a great deal of information as the starters barely play, if at all, and rookies and backup players take the field.

One rookie that made the most of his opportunity is former Oregon Duck star, Bucky Irving. Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles decided to sit most of his starters, including starter Rachaad White, giving Irving a chance to show what he can do and he did not disappoint.

“I mean (Irving) had no jitters, he wasn’t nervous,” Bowles said. “He hit the holes, he caught the ball well, he pass blocked well. I will check the tape for everything else, but I thought he had a good first outing.”

In the Bucs’ second series of the game, they mixed the pass and run during a 77-yard drive that resulted in a five-yard touchdown run for Irving.

 “I knew we had an inside-zone call,” Irving said after the game. “I pretty much let my blocks set up and then cut back off my blocks, and then I had to break a tackle to get in.”

Tampa Bay came into the offseason with a stated intention of improving their running game while at the same time relieving the load on starter White. This focus was behind the decision to draft Irving in the fourth round of the NFL draft.

The scouting report on Irving highlighted his ability to evade tackles, his vision, power, and the ability to bring a change of pace to the Bucs’ offense. Consider that this is exactly what Irving did in scoring his first NFL touchdown, albeit in a preseason game. While still early, Bowles is confident that Irving has the ability to add another dimension to the Bucs running game.

“I think the biggest thing is (the running backs) are getting downhill,” Bowles said. “Nobody is dancing back there like they were in the past.

“They understand where the holes are a little better, and they’ve gotten a year to mature — at least Sean does; Bucky is a natural runner like that. They’re recognizing the holes, and they’re doing a good job in practice of seeing where (the hole) has to be and they’re exploding through it.”

As this was the first preseason game, Irving shared carries with several other running backs. He ended the night with six carries for 28 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and a touchdown. The only back with more carries was second-year back Sean Tucker, who had 10 carries for 68 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and no touchdowns.

Despite limited playing time, Irving had a successful debut. However, Irving acknowledges that there is still much work to be done.

“Just keep my head down, keep working,” Irving said. “I’ve still got a lot of things I need to keep working on to get better at, but I’m not satisfied. I’m just trying to improve and get better.”

One game into the preseason schedule hardly projects a successful year ahead. Yet, coming off of a year in which the Bucs were one of the worst rushing teams in the league (439 rushes for 1509 yards, an average of 3.4 yards per carry and a paltry eight touchdowns), the performance turned in by Irving is a step in the right direction. Oregon Ducks’ fans know what Irving is capable of doing on the football field and Tampa Bay fans are soon to find out.

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The Oregon Ducks have been in camp for about 10 days and held eight workouts. On Saturday afternoon, Oregon held their first scrimmage of fall camp at Autzen Stadium.

The Ducks carry lofty expectations as coaches, players, and certainly the fans believe Oregon will compete for a Big Ten Conference Championship as well as a berth in the expanded College Football Playoff.

One consistent theme in the Ducks’ workouts has been competition. Coach Dan Lanning and his assistants have assembled an incredibly talented team with a number of positions still up for grabs. This scrimmage is the players’ first opportunity to have live repetitions and impress the coaches.

“It’s gonna be competitive like everything else,” said coach Lanning.

He wasn’t the only one looking for players to step up and compete. Senior linebacker and the leader of what is likely to be a top performing defense in 2024, Jeffrey Bassa, shared his thoughts leading up to the scrimmage.

“I want to see relentless effort,” Bassa said. “That’s for sure going to have to be the main thing. And we gotta take the ball away. I know it’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of the young guys to go out there and get the pads rocking again, so I want to see young guys step up, I want to see young guys fly around to the ball, play with a lot of juice and energy and passion. From the older guys I want to see a lot of leadership, as well.”

Following the scrimmage, coach Lanning spoke with the press and shared his thoughts on the day.

“Good competitive scrimmage. Good physicality, guys out there tackling, running to the ball, blocking hard,“ Lanning said. “(I) thought that all showed up. I think there (are) a lot of things operational that we can clean up and improve. Plenty to work on but saw a slight improvement on where we want to be.”

The Ducks have always been able to provide those big explosive plays and more of the same is expected in the upcoming season. Coach Lanning was asked if the offense was able to bring some of those plays to the scrimmage.

“I think we were limited from an explosive play standpoint. (I) want to be able to see some more of those,” Lanning said. “I thought the offense did a much better job on third down, overall, in comparison to the defense, having some success there.”

As this was the first scrimmage of fall camp, coach Lanning was asked about the biggest positive of the day.

“Just the competitive toughness, right,” said Lanning. “The guys competed from the minute we started to the minute we finished. (We) wanted to win every single rep and did a pretty good job of getting to the next play.”

A key position for the 2024 Ducks will be the play of transfer portal quarterback, Dillon Gabriel. Lanning was asked about the decision making of Gabriel as well as Dante Moore and Austin Novosad during the scrimmage.

“Pretty good,” Lanning said. “We had one turnover on the day, but thought we protected the ball well.”

In terms of individual efforts, Lanning was quick to say that there wasn’t an individual he would say was a standout performer in this scrimmage.

The next steps for Lanning and his coaches are to break down the film of the scrimmage.

“We’ve got to go watch the film, asap,” Lanning explained. “Get a write-up on where we need to grow as a team on every side of the ball. And then figure out where we are at and what we need to attack moving on to this next week.”

Coach Lanning was also asked about the play of Gabriel.

“Yeah, I think he is operating in the system, he understands what we want to be able to accomplish, and he is getting more and more comfortable as we go,” Lanning said.

Given the lofty expectations for Gabriel and a wide receiver room that could be the best in the country, coach Lanning was asked about the relationship between Gabriel and his wide outs.

“I think there is a lot of trust on both parts, for those guys to be where they are supposed to be and the ball to be there when the get there” said Lanning. “I think that’s in a good spot.”

 One area that coach Lanning specifically pointed out as needing improvement is the pace of play.

“No, (the pace) wasn’t there today,” said Lanning. “I’d like to see us to be, again, our pace of play, getting in and out of the huddle, I want to see us improve.”

As to a winner or loser in this first scrimmage, coach Lanning declined to name one or the other but did note good plays on both sides of the ball.

“I don’t think so, not necessarily today,” Lanning explained. “There were highs and lows for both sides of the ball.

Coach Lanning ended the press conference by responding to a question regarding what this team might look like going forward.

“I certainly have a vision,” Lanning said. “I don’t know if we are there yet, but we have talent, we have some ability, we’ve got to improve.”