Oregon is back to classes on Tuesday, giving all the Ducks a shorter break than most of their academic counterparts. But no one is happier to be on campus and getting used to the grind than quarterback transfer Dakota Prukop, whose last game with Montana State was Nov. 21.
"I feel like a kid on Christmas -- just waiting and waiting," Prukop said.
Prukop will begin his two-years masters program in non-profit management. He said part of the appeal of the program is that after the first year students receive a certificate in non-profit management.
Since his commitment last month, it wasn’t just his arrival in Eugene that he was waiting on. He, like most, was waiting to hear who Oregon coach Mark Helfrich would hire as Scott Frost’s replacement as offensive coordinator. When Prukop made his official visit, Frost had already departed and so Prukop spent most of his time on campus with Helfrich and the soon-to-be-named offensive coordinator, Matt Lubick.
When he heard Helfrich’s comments from the Valero Alamo Bowl news conference he wasn’t surprised.
"I had a feeling that was going to happen just because when I was up there on my visit, just meeting with coach Helfrich and coach Lubick, the amount of support coach Helfrich has for coach Lubick, I could sort of tell that’s someone he trusts and believes in," Prukop said. "Coach Lubick is someone I want to play for."
Neither Helfrich nor Lubick really gave Prukop any marching orders on what he needed to do before getting to campus (except, of course, that he needed to pass his GRE and be accepted into the school -- which he did), so his main focus has just been getting healthy over the past six weeks.
Prukop said he took some nasty hits near the end of the season with Montana State, but that he’s starting to feel pretty good and that he’s looking forward to starting with the Oregon strength program.
He plans to spend the first month or so just studying the signals and terminology of the Oregon offense. That’s where, he said, the biggest differences lie between the Ducks’ and Bobcats’ offensive schemes. Once he gets those down he will start looking more at the concepts.
Given that the Ducks will likely start spring ball about the beginning of April, Prukop has set himself up to ease into the offense and the program, unlike Oregon’s last FCS transfer, Vernon Adams Jr.
Meaning, for the next few months it will be a lot of individual or small-group work, leaving him to wait for the real thing just a little bit longer.