Jamal Hill Targeting Appeal Denied

Oregon defensive back Jamal Hill will miss the first half of a critical top-25 match up against the Washington Huskies this week. Hill was called for targeting during Oregon's blowout win over Colorado on Saturday.

The Ducks will now be without their fourth-leading tackler and need other players in the secondary to step up.

Head Coach Coach Lanning confirmed that Hill's appeal was denied during a press conference on Monday.

"Every week we're gonna do an appeal and y'all already probably know the answer, we have appealed," Lanning said.  

The appeal was denied, meaning Hill will be out for the first half. This isn't the first time that Lanning has had to address this, as the Ducks have had multiple players forced to sit out due to targeting calls this season including linebackers DJ Johnson and Jeffrey Bassa.

Lanning accepted responsibility and says the coaching staff needs to do a better job in that area.

"We gotta coach better on our end of hitting in the strike zone, doing a good job being in the target zone and coach tackling better on our part," he said. "It's disappointing. You hate to lose players and you want to play in moments like this, big games like this. 

"You want your players to be available and able to play and Jamal's a phenomenal teammate for our team and not having Jeff there in the first half, it gave opportunities for some other guys to step up this past week. But it's something we want to coach better so we can avoid it happening. You hate for it to happen late in the game like it did. Again, I know the intent of the rule is to protect players and make sure players stay safe and so I'll say that we can coach it better so we can avoid it moving forward."

Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi will now turn to players like Bennett Williams, Steve Stephens IV and Bryan Addison at safety in Hill's absence. While Addison has been playing some great football this season, not having Hill in the first half against one of the best passing offenses in the country will certainly sting a bit.

The Ducks will look to keep their dominant streak going against the Washington Huskies this Saturday with kickoff set for 4:00 pm at Autzen Stadium.