Ex-Bobcat star Prukop wins QB job at Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. – Montana State graduate transfer Dakota Prukop is listed atop Oregon’s depth chart at quarterback for the season opener.

The No. 24 Ducks released the depth chart for the first week of the season Friday. Prukop was listed ahead of freshman Justin Herbert on the two-deep for the home game against UC Davis on Sept. 3.

Prukop was named an FCS All-American last year after passing for 3,025 yards and 28 touchdowns with 10 interceptions at Montana State. He also rushed for 774 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Big Sky team that finished 5-6.

He follows in the footsteps of Oregon’s starter for the opener last season, Vernon Adams, a graduate transfer from Eastern Washington.

Herbert, a local prospect out of Sheldon High School in Eugene, threw for 3,170 yards and 37 touchdowns as a senior last year. He won the backup job over redshirt freshman Travis Jonsen and freshman Terry Wilson, who had both played in Oregon’s annual spring game.

Herbert is the younger brother of Mitch Herbert, who is a Montana State receiver and caught passes from Prukop a year ago with the Bobcats.

“Justin’s done a great job of not putting the ball into tight (situations),” Oregon quarterbacks coach David Yost told the media earlier this week.

Yost also said that Prukop, and the whole group, had shown progress over fall camp.

“The first week of two-a-days we threw it away too many times,” he said. “But we’ve steadily gotten better and better.”

Jonsen is a dual-threat quarterback from Anaheim, California, who injured his toe last fall and required surgery. Wilson enrolled early last spring at Oregon to get a head start.

Jonsen completed 15 of 24 attempts for 188 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the spring game. Wilson completed four of 10 passes for 22 yards and was picked off once. Prukop completed 20 of 29 passes for 190 yards and two TDs.

Taylor Alie and Jeff Lockie, who both saw playing time at quarterback last season when Adams was hurt, were moved to receiver in the spring game.

Coach Mark Helfrich told reporters Thursday that the team goes into the first game preparation week of the season in good shape.

“Knock on wood, we’re healthier than we were last year, we’re stronger than we were last year. I think when we get to a game-planned-out, dialed-in situation, we’ll have a lot of guys playing with confidence,” Helfrich said. “We’re very young, we’re very immature. We’ll see how we react to the highs and how we react to the lows, because there’s going to be both of those.”

Oregon went 9-4 last season, the first time the Ducks finished with fewer than 10 wins since 2007. The season was capped by a triple-overtime loss to TCU in the Alamo Bowl.

The Ducks open the 2016 season Sept. 3 at home against UC Davis of the Big Sky Conference, a team Prukop is certainly familiar with. On Sept. 10 Oregon plays host to Oregon, then the next week the Ducks are at Nebraska.