Spring practice: Tosh Lupoi's Oregon defense ready to take on new challenge
From radios in helmets, to the opponents they're preparing for, there's some newness in the air this spring in Eugene.
Tosh Lupoi has been around the block a few times.
Mind you, Oregon’s defensive coordinator is no relic — he’s 42, beatboxes and looks like he could headline a UFC card — but his head coach is 38 and his counterpart on the offensive side of the ball is 34. He’s the relative old man here. That being said, there’s a bit of new for the third-year Oregon DC to experience this spring.
For one, Oregon’s first two practices have been spent playing with college football’s new helmet communications rule. Now similar to the NFL, one player on each side of the ball can have a radio in their helmet to communicate with the coaching staff up until the 15-second mark of the play clock.
“We’re experimenting with that and figuring out who is going to be best to be utilizing that,” Lupoi told reporters Saturday. “Definitely having some experience helps there. With the rules of this cutting off at 15, there’s still going to involve a lot of communication out there on the field, so I think the key is practicing both mechanics and not going wholesale one way or the other.”