Hayden Crook learned much from former University of Oregon kicker Matt Beard. Perhaps the most important thing was this: His walk-on status will not restrict his chance to compete for playing time on the UO football team.

“Matt Beard told me they (coaches) just take the best guys, they don’t care about scholarship, nonscholarship,” Crook said last week. “If I’m kicking the ball farther with better hang time on kickoffs, then I’ll be the guy. The better guy will win.”

Crook, a redshirt freshman from Bend, started his first preseason camp with the Ducks on Monday.

He called the invitation to camp the “next step” in his process to eventually earn a scholarship and playing time for Oregon, which is ranked No. 3 in the preseason USA Today coaches’ poll.

Crook — who was on the roster last season as a redshirt but did not attend preseason camp in 2012 — has stayed in Eugene most of the summer to train with last season’s starting field-goal kicker for the Ducks, Alejandro Maldonado, along with long-snapper Drew Howell and punter Dylan Ausherman.

“The whole year I was working to try to get invited to fall (preseason) camp,” Crook said. “As a walk-on, especially a kicker, it’s much harder to get invited to fall camp, because they have limited roster spots for that. They will actually look at me as competing for a job, instead of redshirting.”

The 19-year-old Crook — who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 158 pounds — is currently the only player from Central Oregon on the Ducks’ 2013 roster. He was a first-team all-state kicker as a senior at Bend High in 2011, as well as an all-league point guard for the basketball team. He was also a midfielder on the Lava Bears’ soccer squad.

Last season as a redshirt, Crook’s main role was to kick off to the return team during practice. This season might bring more of the same, but Crook says he hopes to eventually compete for playing time as a kickoff specialist, and later in his career to add field goals and extra points to his duties as he continues to develop as a kicker.

Crook is the second kicker from Bend High to play for the Ducks in recent years. Morgan Flint (2005-2009) worked his way up from walk-on status to earn a scholarship for his senior year and become a reliable starting place-kicker for Oregon.

“My goal is to also work on field goals,” Crook said. “I’m sure I won’t get as many reps on field goals as Alejandro, but I’ll be filling in. Hopefully I can prove myself that way.”

As kickers, Maldonado, a senior, and Crook spend quite a bit of time together. The two often go fishing together, and Maldonado calls Crook a “great guy.”

“As a kicker, he’s him, I’m me,” Maldonado said. “But he works really hard. His kickoffs are really nice.”

Incoming freshman kicker Matt Wogan, of Indian Trail, N.C., is on a full scholarship and reportedly has the strongest leg of any Oregon kicker in years. Wogan will add another leg to the competition for kickoffs and field goals/extra points.

“I’m not sure what they’re going to do with Matt; he’s a big-leg guy,” Crook said. “I’m just excited to be there, and hopefully prove myself a little bit. I’m just going at this fall camp with no worries. I’m just going to hopefully prove myself and see what happens from there. I’m not expecting to get a starting spot … I just like competing with the guys. I think I can compete for a job.”