By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com

Venue: Autzen Stadium
Format: Fast Friday

A little over 24 hours before the Ducks were to kick off the 2015 season against Eastern Washington, the team was in Autzen Stadium for its “Fast Friday” up-tempo walk-through.

As in seasons past, the walk-through was preceded by a 10-minute scrimmage period for players who spent the week on the scout team. After a week running Eastern Washington's offense and defense, the mix of mostly redshirting freshmen and walk-ons got to run Oregon's schemes against each other while the travel squad cheered them on.

The period is conducted with players in shells, and at “thud” tempo, without tackling guys to the ground. That benefits the offense if anything, but a few plays in, freshman defensive end Drayton Carlberg beat his blocker and swallowed up a running back at the line for no gain.

According to the UO graduate assistant coaches who coordinate the scout teams, Carlberg's play was in line with his effort all week. “He's a blue-collar kid, and football is really important to him,” GA Joe Bernardi said. “And you could tell that right away.”

Carlberg didn't only impress on the field. After being informed of his scout-team role to start the season, he didn't hang his head; instead, he showed up to meetings for the scouts with a notebook, to better retain his assignments.

That may sound like a small detail, but it resonated with a coaching staff that can't reinforce enough the importance of attention to detail by the scouts.

Carlberg, a native of Minnesota, said movies like “Friday Night Lights” instilled in him a passion for the game. “I instantly knew football was my love, and that's what I had to pursue,” he said.

He spent much of this week playing alongside Gary Baker and Gus Cumberlander on the scout-team defensive line. They're an impressive group of young athletes, doing their best to mimic the three-man fronts on which Eastern Washington is expected to primarily rely Saturday.

“If I'm going against the one offense, I know if I work hard they're going to make me better,” Carlberg said. “At the same time, if I'm running the other team's defense I can help them get better and win a game.”

Scout-team scrimmage highlights: Cornerback Tyler Reid, a local kid from Eugene's Churchill High, may have been the player of the day. On one of the first reps he sold out with a headlong dive to break up a pass from Travis Jonsen to Chris Tewhill. Later, Reid leaped to intercept a Morgan Mahalak pass. … Both Jonsen and Mahalak must have enjoyed the presence of Darren Carrington with the scouts this week. Mahalak had a long pass that Carrington caught and turned into a touchdown today, and Jonsen had a pair of long completions to the receiver. … Jarret LaCoste had the most success in the run game, getting into the secondary a couple times. … Defensively, Kaulana Apelu also broke up a pass, while Baker and Matt Mariota teamed to flush Jonsen from the pocket and force him to run out of bounds for no gain.