Offensive coordinator Matt Lubick met with reporters at Oregon’s second practice of the spring season Wednesday.

He discussed the progress of graduate-transfer quarterback Dakota Prukop, the adjustment to his new role and the prospect of Oregon basketball player Dwayne Benjamin — an All-State wide receiver in high school — joining the football team.

Now that you’ve seen a couple practices, what are your thoughts on how the team is coming together?

Very happy with attitudes. Guys are having fun, enjoying practice. They’ve been waiting a long time to get back out on the field. Spring ball is a great time because you’re not worried about an opponent; you can make yourself better. For coaches, that’s a blast. Another thing that’s really neat for us is we’re trying a lot of new guys in different spots.

In the short time you’ve been around Dakota Prukop, what’s your assessment?

His attitude has been incredible. He is doing everything he can possibly do to get better. To play in his situation — in really anyone’s situation, when you haven’t played before — you have to do a lot of time off the field, and he’s doing that. When he’s not in class, he lives in our building.

The hardest thing is it’s a whole new language. Even though he’s experienced and he’s played football before, it’s learning and processing before he can even play. He’s just starting to pick that up and, each day, you can tell he’s getting more comfortable.

How are you distributing reps at quarterback?

It’s hard to rep five guys. But right now, with Dakota in the mix, Travis [Jonsen] and Terry [Wilson], we want to give those guys a majority of the reps. What we’ve explained to Jeff [Lockie] and Taylor [Alie] — and they’ve been awesome; they’ve been studs — if you’re new, the only way you can really learn what’s going on is you have to be thrown into the fire. So we’re throwing those guys into the fire. They haven’t proven it yet; they’ve got to still prove it. But we want to see what they can do, and the only way to do that is to give those guys the majority of the reps.

You were in a different role at this time last year. How are you adjusting to your new job?

I’m enjoying it. Each day is a little bit different. What makes my job easy is I’m around a bunch of great coaches. What a coordinator does is just kind of interact with other people and try to organize the big picture. But it hasn’t changed a ton. I’m still coaching the receivers. I try to get a little more involved at the other positions.

Dwayne Benjamin: Any word on him? 

Nope, but we’d be happy to have him. I heard there’s a rumor that he was thinking about coming out. If he comes out, we’d be jazzed. We had a great experience with Johnathan Loyd. I’m sure [Benjamin] has other things he has to weigh, as well.

Where would you put a 6-foot-7 guy?

We’d find a place. He’d give us a lot of options.

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby

Graduate transfer quarterback Dakota Prukop has been on Oregon’s campus taking classes since early January. Still, anytime he steps foot inside one of its world-class athletic facilities, he looks around and pinches himself.

“Man, it’s such an amazing place,” he said following the Ducks’ first practice of the spring football season Tuesday. “It’s a place of opportunity. It’s a place that you just feel you can have success here.”

Prukop appeared confident and well-spoken Tuesday. Despite being largely under-recruited in high school — a late bloomer, he said himself he “was way behind” his peers — Prukop put up massive numbers in two seasons as a starter for FCS school Montana State University. In 2014, he threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for 946 yards and 13 touchdowns. In 2015, he passed for 3,025 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for 797 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Since arriving in Eugene, Prukop has gone out of his way to make a strong first impression. Head coach Mark Helfrich said Prukop has been around the football offices “a ton,” getting to know the offensive system, as well as the coaches and players. He’s spent much of his time hanging out with running back Kani Benoit and offensive lineman Cameron Hunt. He’s developed strong rapports with running back Taj Griffin and tight end Pharaoh Brown.

For Prukop, the first few practices aren’t about establishing himself into a leadership role. They’re about observing how the team is accepting him. He said the team has been “extremely welcoming.”

“As far as a leadership role, it is where it can be right now,” he said. “Right now, I’ve got to develop personal relationships with each of the guys, and I think I’ve accomplished that a little bit today.”

According to Helfrich, with the quarterbacks in particular, the first few practices are about “finding out how they respond to things and what motivates them.” He declined to say Prukop was the frontrunner for the starting job.

“There’s not a big gap [between Prukop and the other quarterbacks], really, after day one,” Helfrich said. “The biggest thing is just those guys knowing that [the quarterbacks] have to run the show.”

New quarterbacks coach Dave Yost described Prukop as “very talented.” He said Prukop in practice today was “pushing himself to probably do a little too much too fast,” although he expected that.

“‘Be quick, but don’t be in a hurry’ is kind of a good motto for him because he wants to do all 75 things a quarterback does on every play. Let’s just do the first five or six right, and all the other things will come.”

Prukop has big shoes to fill. His arrival in Eugene comes the season after Oregon used Vernon Adams Jr., another FCS graduate-transfer, to fill the void Heisman-winner Marcus Mariota left behind at quarterback. Adams, despite missing playing time in several games due to injury, was the nation’s most efficient passer. He led the Ducks to a 9-4 season and 47-41 triple-overtime loss in the 2016 Valero Alamo Bowl, a game he left due to a head injury after building a 31-0 second-quarter lead.

Prukop embraces the program’s high expectations. He declined offers from Alabama, Texas, Michigan and other top football programs to play for the Ducks in 2016.

“I came here because this is a team that expects to win a national championship,” Prukop said. “… This is a team that expects to be No. 1, and without that expectation, you can’t be No. 1.”

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby

When manager George Horton addressed the media at practice on March 16, Oregon men’s basketball was about to begin its historic Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament. The baseball team, meanwhile, had just been swept in three games by Mississippi State.

“You guys just want to talk about our basketball team, right?” Horton asked.

Now that basketball season is over, the focus shifts to the baseball field, where the season has been less than magical. One month ago, Perfect Game ranked Oregon No. 7 in the nation after it swept San Diego State and took three of four against Illinois State. Since, the Ducks (11-9, 2-4 Pac-12) have lost eight of their last 13 games and fallen out of the Top 25.

“We’ve been in a little bit of a rut,” sophomore Kyle Kasser said. “Even on this tough skid, everyone is just staying with the process and doing what we do, trying not to do too much, and keeping a positive mindset.”

Oregon’s hitters have struggled mightily. The Ducks sit dead last in the Pac-12 conference in batting average (.211), slugging percentage (.319), hits (6.95) and strikeouts per game (7.90).

On the other hand, Oregon’s pitchers have excelled. The Ducks boast the conference’s second-lowest opposing batting average (.218) and third-lowest ERA (3.12). They have recorded the most strikeouts (9.00) and allowed the second-fewest hits (7.00) and third-fewest runs per game (3.95).

Unfortunately, no “golden mean” exists between the two extremes; a team cannot have too much offense or quality pitching.

The offense is dragging the team down.

“It’d be accurate to say we’re searching for a little spark,” Horton said. “We’re setting the table really well. Coach [Mark Wasikowski] is running the offense well. We’re putting ourselves in position to have productive innings; we’re just not eating at the table.”

“We’ve had some opportunities. We just haven’t broke it open, so to speak.”

The second through fifth hitters in the batting order to start the season — A.J. Balta, Jakob Goldfarb, Phil Craig-St. Louis and Steven Packard — have combined to hit just .181. Freshmen Matt Kroon and Travis Moniot, who were drafted into the MLB out of high school, together have hit just .148.

Two unlikelier candidates have carried more of the offensive burden of late. Since getting his second start of the season on March 19, Kasser strung together four-straight multi-hit games and now leads the team with a .435 batting average. Freshman Jake Bennett is close behind with a .400 batting average. Both have started the past four games. Kasser is hitting in the two-hole, and Bennett has moved up to third in the batting order from sixth.

“Not that [Goldfarb] or [Craig-St. Louis] have a lack of mentality, but what we were looking for was freshness and competitiveness,” Horton said when he benched them in favor Kasser and Bennett on March 19. “… Their strokes are not, right now, in line for that. They want to do it and they battle, but unfortunately right now they don’t have the mechanisms, the tools, to do that.”

Oregon’s pitchers will continue to keep the team competitive in games, but the hitters will need to start contributing more substantially for the Ducks to make good on Cole Irvin’s guarantee of making the College World Series for the first time under Horton.

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby

Playing nine innings is a struggle for any team whose offense isn’t scoring and the defense isn’t making plays.

In their last four games — all of which they lost — the Oregon Ducks (9-6) scraped together just 10 runs on 22 hits, committed five errors and doled out 21 free passes to first base. There was more energy in a library than Oregon’s dugout during its 4-1 loss to Utah on Friday.

Manager George Horton said he had “tried everything” to get the momentum rolling in his team’s favor, but nothing had worked. So on Saturday, his message to the team was to “start having some fun.”

“Quite honestly, I told them the dugout was not very good,” Horton said. “If we’re going to wait around for somebody to hit a ball over a fence or get a two-out RBI, we’re not going to have a lot of energy from the dugout. So what I said is, ‘Let’s start finding anything to get positive energy out there,’ and they did that.”

Just when the Ducks appeared to have fallen out of the game all together, they clawed their way back in with a four-run fifth inning and went on to win 9-5 at PK Park. RBI singles from Kasser, senior Steven Packard and freshman Travis Moniot in the fifth inning turned a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 lead. Oregon’s Tim Susnara snuck home unnoticed from third base to tie the score while the Utah second baseman was pleading his case to the umpire for an out call on a fielder’s choice.

“That’s big for us, because we’ve been scuffling a little bit,” junior Austin Grebeck said. “To string some hits together, get some execution done — that’s fantastic. That’s what we needed.”

Grebeck and sophomore Kyle Kasser provided the Ducks much-needed sparks on offense. Kasser’s double to left in the first inning scored Grebeck, who led off with a single, from first. Grebeck scored again on Kasser’s base hit up the middle in the fifth, following his own lead-off triple down the right field line. The two combined for six hits, four runs and three RBIs.

Kasser normally plays middle infield, but Horton gave him his second start of the season at first base. Horton said he was looking for a “fresh” mentality at the plate, and his “hunch” to start Kasser paid off.

“You really never know when your name is going to be called,” Kasser said. “You just always have to be ready and keep putting in the work. I got the call today, and I was ready.”

The Ducks put the game out of reach with three runs during a two-out rally in the seventh. Grebeck’s infield single scored senior Nick Catalano from third, and redshirt sophomore A.J. Balta’s bases-loaded shot up the brought home Grebeck and Moniot.

Moniot, like Grebeck and Kasser, notched three hits, plus an RBI and run on a balk.

Coming off a rough outing that lasted just 0.2 innings against Mississippi State, starting pitcher Matt Krook took another early exit. His command issues persisted with four walks, including two in the fourth that set up a two-run frame. He was pulled no outs into the fifth inning after conceding three straight singles and a wild pitch. He was charged with all five runs, all earned.

Krook has given up 19 walks and hit six batters in five starts and 21.2 innings this season.

The Ducks take on the Utes for the rubber game of the series Sunday, 12 p.m. at PK Park.

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby

A superstitious practice of male athletes — particularly baseball players — is to shave one’s beard when on-field performance begins to worsen. Following a three-game sweep at the hands of Mississippi State last weekend, starting pitcher Matt Krook and multiple other Ducks got rid of their facial hair.

“It’s kind of a ‘fresh start’ deal,” Krook said.

Pac-12 play begins on Friday against Utah, and the Ducks (8-5) are not where they hoped they would be this point in the season. The team batting average sits at a conference-low .206. The starting pitching, the team’s bright spot all season, was battered in Starkville.

A fresh start in conference is exactly what manager George Horton is hoping for.

“It’s refreshing if you’re limping into [Pac-12 play] and you say, ‘Well, this is another phase of our season, and we’re all 0-0,’” Horton said.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you we are concerned about our lack of excellence on the road. Make no mistake about it, Mississippi State played the game really well — a lot better than we did… I hope that’s not a prelude for how it is going to go for us.”

Oregon’s starting rotation combined to allow 14 runs (11 earned) on 17 hits, 12 walks, three hit batsmen and six strikeouts against the Bulldogs. Krook was pulled from the game Saturday just two outs into the first inning after five consecutive batters reached base on walks and hit-by-pitches.

“I honestly don’t really know what happened,” Krook said. “I just completely lost feel for the strike zone, and it just got away from me pretty quick.”

Krook assured his arm feels “great” despite the rough outing.

Horton and Cole Irvin both cited the inclement weather in Starkville as a factor in the pitching staff’s off weekend, but Krook said it’s not an excuse. On the way home from the Mississippi series, Krook and the pitchers agreed their best course of action is to “make it a memory” and “flush it” to focus on the road ahead.

Horton originally saw last weekend as a dress rehearsal for Pac-12 play, for which he is now “concerned but excited.” He figured the SEC match-ups against Alabama and Mississippi State would simulate the experience of a Pac-12 game because of the atmosphere and level of competition. But the Alabama game was canceled due to weather, and few fans showed up to see the Ducks play the Bulldogs for the same reason, plus the fact the game came during Mississippi State’s spring break.

The upcoming series against Utah provides Oregon an opportunity to get back on track. The Utes enter with a conference-low 4.99 ERA and 23 errors, the most in the Pac-12. Its team batting average is .271. Oregon enters the series with a 2.72 team ERA.

“We have to get our confidence and mojo back,” Horton said.

The three-game series begins Friday, 6:00 p.m at PK Park.

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby

Former Oregon basketball players Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson have filed a lawsuit against the University of Oregon seeking $10 million each, it was reported by ESPN on Tuesday.

Artis, Dotson and fellow former player Brandon Austin were accused of raping a female student at an off-campus party in March 2014. The UO dismissed them and banned them from campus for up to 10 years in May 2014.

“The way the University of Oregon handled this case showed a misunderstanding of both the students and the law, and it was so troubling that I had no choice but to file this suit,” Alex Spiro, Artis and Dotson’s attorney, said via phone call.

The lawsuit claims the investigation was biased against Artis and Dotson, did not allow them to prevent witnesses, denied them due process and “engineered a ‘kangaroo court’ hearing with the purpose of finding that they committed a sexual assault that did not in reality occur.” It states the charges against Artis and Dotson and their dismissal diminished their chances of playing in the NBA.

“These are NBA prospects at the prime of their lives, whose careers and futures have been stripped away by just horrible conduct on the part of the University,” Spiro said via phone call. “Even conservatively, $10 million is not a big figure.”

In addition to the University, Artis and Dotson’s suit also names former President Michael Gottfredson, Vice President of Student Life and Interim Dean of Students Robin Holmes and two others.

UO spokesman Tobin Klinger said this lawsuit doesn’t surprise the university.

“Their attorney has reached out multiple times seeking a financial settlement that we did not entertain,” Klinger said in a statement. “As we said when their former teammate Mr. Austin filed his claims in October, we intend to vigorously defend the university. We remain confident that all these individuals were afforded fair and consistent due process that fully complied with the university’s legal obligations.”

Jane Doe, the survivor of the alleged sexual assault, settled her 11-month lawsuit against UO, in which she accused UO of violating her Title IX rights, for $800,000 and free tuition in August 2015. She dismissed head coach Dana Altman from a civil lawsuit.

Austin filed his own suit against Oregon seeking $7.5 million in October. The lawsuit states: “Astonishingly, Oregon’s counsel contacted Mr. Austin’s counsel, in essence admitted that Oregon believed the female student was not telling the truth about the sexual assault, and asked for Mr. Austin’s help in defending the suit.”

Austin and his teammate Rodney Bullock were accused of sexual assault at Providence College in 2013. Although criminal charges were not brought against them, both were suspended indefinitely from playing for Providence’s basketball team.

Artis and Doston are all currently playing Division I basketball for University of Texas at El Paso and University of Houston, respectively. Brandon Austin was awarded a basketball scholarship to Northwest Florida State College, but no longer plays.

Here’s a copy of the lawsuit Artis and Dotson filed today.

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @kennyjacoby. Kira Hoffelmeyer contributed to this report.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs (11-3-1) knocked Oregon starting pitcher Matt Krook out of the game before the end of the first inning in Starkville Saturday. It was the worst game of the redshirt sophomore’s stellar career, and it snowballed into a long day for the team.

Oregon trailed 9-0 at one point. The Ducks (8-4) scored three times in the eighth and ninth innings, but stranded the bases loaded with no outs in the ninth to fall, 9-3.

Krook’s outing got out of control in a hurry. With runners on second and third and two outs, Krook walked four batters and pegged another. Two of the walks came with full counts; the other two came on four pitches.

Isaiah Carranza relieved Krook after Mississippi State batted around the order once. He walked in a run the first batter he faced but got the next batter to fly out to center to end the inning, although the damage was already done. Mississippi State led 5-0 after one frame.

Krook was charged with all five runs, all five of which were earned.

Mississippi State (11-3-1) added pairs of runs on Carranza and Parker Kelly in fourth and seventh innings to increase its lead to 9-0.

Tim Susnara crossed the plate on a wild pitch and Matt Kroon scored on Jak Bennett’s RBI single in the eighth. Daniel Patzlaff came home when Kroon was hit by a pitch with bases loaded and no outs in the ninth, but Kale Breaux retired the next three Ducks to seal the win for Mississippi State.

In his three prior starts this season, Krook allowed just five runs on six hits, while holding his opponents to a .107 average and maintaining a 1.59 ERA.

The ability to overpower hitters has not been an issue for Krook in his first season back since undergoing Tommy John surgery, but accuracy has. He has 28 strikeouts and 15 walks in 17.2 innings, plus hit six batsmen, including four last week against UC Santa Barbara.

With Mississippi State entering the series with collectively hitting .317, if the Ducks were going to win this series, it was going to be with pitching and defense. But Oregon’s two best pitchers, Cole Irvin and Krook, were exposed on consecutive days. Irvin was rocked for five runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings yesterday, and Krook recorded just two outs today before manager George Horton yanked him.

Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby

The Mississippi State Bulldogs brought Oregon pitcher Cole Irvin back down to life in the Ducks’ 10-4 loss at Dudy Noble Field on Friday.

Irvin, who entered the game with a pair of wins and a 0.82 ERA, struggled through 5.1 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs (three earned) on three walks and two strikeouts.

The Ducks (8-3) got off to a fast start, thanks to A.J. Balta’s two-run home run in the first inning, but the Bulldogs erased the lead in the third inning. Travis Moniot’s throwing error to first base allowed Ryan Gridley to reach base and take second. Following a sacrifice bunt, Brent Rooker knocked Gridley home on an infield single. Gavin Collins then scored Rooker on a two-out, two-strike double to left-center field to tie the score.

The Bulldogs added two more in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Rooker blasted a go-ahead solo home run to left-center. With two outs, Gavin Collins singled and Reid Humphreys tripled to right, scoring Collins.

Irvin’s day came to a frustrating close in the sixth. He threw four straight balls to Luke Alexander after starting the count 0-2. Gridley followed with a bunt single, and Jacob Ronson singled through the right side with two strikes. The bases were loaded with one out when Brac Warren entered in Irvin’s relief.

Warren got his first batter, Rooker, to fly out to shallow left, but the next batter cashed in. Jack Kruger, who played his freshman year at Oregon and now leads Mississippi State with a .462 average, singled to the third baseman. Alexander scored from third, increasing the lead to 5-2 before Warren escaped the jam.

Freshman Matt Mercer relieved Warren in the eighth and pitched an inning he’d like to have back. Mercer struck out two of his first three batters and gave up a double to Gridley. Pinch hitter Jake Magnum then roped the first pitch he saw down the right field line for a double, scoring Gridley. After an intentional walk to Kruger and a four-pitch walk to Collins, Cody Brown crushed a grand slam to right.

Mercer retired the next batter, but the damage was already done. The Ducks went down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning and lost 10-4.

The Ducks managed just four hits and went 3-18 with runners in scoring position. Their team batting average sits at .203, although their opponents’ is just .202.

Oregon and Mississippi State will square off again Saturday at 12:00 p.m.