Close to the real thing

Oregon football concludes its spring workouts Saturday with the spring game, a chance for fans to get a first glimpse of next year's team while helping the less fortunate in the community with their food donation.

The game starts at 2 p.m. at Autzen Stadium and admission is three non-perishable food items, to be donated by the athletic department to Food for Lane County for the fifth year in a row.

Last season, the University donated more than 15,000 pounds of food to the local food bank.

That's not all that sets Oregon's spring game apart from other football programs, according to coach Mike Bellotti. He said that the coaches try to give the game an atmosphere of legitimate competition that some spring scrimmages lack.

"The kids get to compete and it's a lot more fun for them then some of the glorified scrimmages that other teams have," he said.

The competitive balance that separates it from other spring scrimmages comes through Wednesday's draft. "White" team head coach Chip Kelly, Oregon's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and "Green" team head coach Nick Aliotti,the Ducks' defensive coordinator, sat down Wednesday afternoon and began drawing scraps of paper, with a position written on each, out of a hat. For each position drawn, one coach gets the first and fourth picks, the other coach gets the second and third.

"We truly draft the team, separate the talent, and watch the kids compete and come together," Bellotti said of the process. "We're going to try and keep it as game-like as possible so it's an event, it's an environment that everybody can be excited about."

The offense has been slow to develop this spring, and has even taken a few steps back in the past week.

Competition for first-team reps has subsequently been opened up to all five of the young quarterbacks participating in full-contact drills.

No position has been under more scrutiny than the quarterback position this spring, and no position is more wide open as spring camp comes to a close.

Bellotti admits that the absence of redshirt sophomore quarterback Nick Costa has hurt the overall performance of the offense in full-contact drills this spring, but the development of the other quarterbacks has benefited from the increased reps they have received. Costa has been held out of full-contact drills for the entirety of spring workouts due to continued rehabilitation of a knee injury suffered last fall.

"It has given a lot of the young quarterbacks opportunities and reps, and as such has stymied the offense at times," he said. "It has also given them a huge leg up on their development."

Bellotti's main concern in the game is that no one gets hurt. After the critical amount of injuries to top players last season, that concern seems understandable.

"I just pray that there are no injuries," he said. "I really feel like that's one of the risks, but you have that risk when you practice too."

Parking in the Autzen Stadium parking lot will be free, with gates to open at 11 a.m. The game will be televised live throughout the state on Comcast SportsNet (channel 37) and will also be available live on the O-Zone via the athletic department's Web site, www.goducks.com.

khudson@dailyemerald.com