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Mark Helfrich: '100 percent' confidence in QB Jeff Lockie

Vernon Adams is considered the favorite to win Oregon's quarterback job in 2015. Ducks coach Mark Helfrich doesn't want to publicly discount Jeff Lockie, either.

Lockie served as the backup to Marcus Mariota in 2014 as the Ducks went to the National Championship and Mariota won the Heisman.

“He knows our system better than anybody on the team,” Helfrich said via the Eugene Register-Guard. “I have total confidence in Jeff, 100 percent. Our players do, too. That’s probably the more important part.”

Running back Royce Freeman said echoed Helfrich's sentiments.

“Lockie is very intelligent as a quarterback,” sophomore running back Royce Freeman said. “He knows a lot of the plays, the ins and outs of them, he hardly has any faults within the offense. He’s the guy I go to if I have any questions. If any rookie has any questions, they go to Lockie.

“He’s stepping up in a leadership role and he’s the guy we look at, so far in the offseason, to help us.”

Lockie has thrown for 264 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his Oregon career. He got some brief playing time in Oregon's title game loss to Ohio State in January.

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Adams is transferring in from Eastern Washington. Because he's still completing a class in summer school that he needs to graduate from school, he's not expected to join the Ducks until shortly after the beginning of fall camp. It has also meant that he hasn't been able to do anything with Oregon this summer.

Helfrich said he had "no comment on that" when he was asked about Adams not being able to practice with the team in the summer. After he announced his transfer, Adams said he was forced to work out at the EWU student rec center because he wasn't allowed to use EWU's football facilities any longer.

Adams was a standout quarterback at the FCS school for the past two seasons. As a graduate transfer he's eligible immediately and has one season to play. Similar to Everett Golson at Florida State, his move to the team is viewed as a strong sign that he's transferring to be the starter.

Like Helfrich, FSU coach Jimbo Fisher has publicly complimented Sean Maguire, who was Jameis Winston's backup in 2014. Maguire started against Clemson after Winston served a one-game suspension.

We ultimately think that both Adams and Golson will be their teams' main starting quarterbacks. Though if we were to pick the most likely incumbent to start we'd take Lockie. We wouldn't be surprised if he starts the first game of the year given his familiarity with the offense.

For more Oregon news, visit DuckSportsAuthority.com.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!