Coming off a season in which they won their second straight Pac-10 title, secured the program’s first undefeated regular season and earned a trip to the BCS National Championship, the Ducks could have been content to stick with an offseason routine that served them well in recent years.
Instead, the Ducks say they amped up their winter workouts following a 22-19 loss to Auburn in the Jan. 10 title game.
“Everybody’s focus was right,” junior offensive lineman Nick Cody said after Oregon’s first spring practice Tuesday. “You come back from a game like that and you’ve got three weeks (less) for your winter conditioning, and you’ve got to step it up with the time you do have. I can speak for the offensive line when I say that we really worked our butts off. We did a lot of extra work we normally don’t do in the offseason.”
In particular, Cody said the linemen worked more on strengthening their core muscles in hopes to complementing the built-up strength in their arms and legs.
“I think you’re going to see that transition on the field, in terms of stability and not being pushed around,” said Cody, who’s competing to fill one of three vacancies on the line. “Guys can have strong legs and strong arms, but it doesn’t mean anything if your core can’t hold it together. And I think on top of that, we got quicker, we got stronger — everything you’d want in an offseason.”
Junior defensive end Dion Jordan, also hoping to earn a starting gig next season, said there was no hangover after the gut-wrenching loss to Auburn.
“I feel like everybody’s out here ready to work,” he said. “It was kind of a letdown getting so close and losing the way we did. But when you fall that short, you didn’t do something right, so you just have to get back to work from phase one and keeping working.”
