EUGENE, Ore. — These are crazy, intense times for Dan Lanning. Not only is he busy preparing his first Oregon team for the Sept. 3 matchup against No. 3 Georgia but, the father of three boys, his dad duties also have not ceased.
His youngest son, Titan, was just issued shoulder pads and helmet and is preparing for his own football season. Meanwhile, the older Lanning boys, Caden and Kniles, are auditioning for parts in a “Monty Python” play.
“It’s great,” Lanning said of the fast-approaching local production. “They’re trying to memorize lines and figure out which part they get in the play.”
Accordingly, Lanning bolted from Oregon’s practice fields as soon as players were dismissed late Monday afternoon. Whether he was heading home to get family news or to his second-story office to watch pass-protection cutups is unknown, but either was a possibility.
Strategically, the Lannings’ new home is only a mile from the Hatfield-Dowlin Football Complex. Not only does that allow Lanning to sneak home for a quick bite but by NCAA rule it also allows recruits to visit when they’re on campus.
Clearly, Lanning has thought this coaching thing through. Here are five other revelations as the Ducks headed into their fifth session of preseason camp Tuesday:
1. Bo Nix has to start, right?
Neither Lanning nor offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham will offer even a hint as to who is leading in the race to become Oregon’s starting quarterback. They fully intend to keep that mystery up until kickoff, if possible.
“We’re letting our guys go out and compete every single day,” Lanning said. “We’re charting every single period of practice for who’s having the most success, who’s having the most explosive plays and taking care of the ball and operating the system best. So, we’ll continue to evaluate that.”
Senior transfer Bo Nix certainly seems to have the edge in experience over the others. Former five-star prospect Ty Thompson (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) and Jay Butterfield (6-6, 218) are redshirt freshmen with four games played and zero starts between them. Nix started most of the 34 games he played at Auburn. He ranks third on the Tigers’ all-time passing list with 7,251 yards, 39 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.
Still, Lanning wants to keep the Bulldogs guessing.
“What’s the benefit for us to tell anybody?” Lanning said Monday. “As the defensive coordinator at Georgia, I always wanted to know (the quarterback) I was playing against. I don’t know why I’d want to tell the other team. And, again, I think we have enough quarterbacks here who can play winning football, so we want to have a plan to use them.”
If Nix plays, it will be his fourth game in four seasons against the Bulldogs. He’s 0-3 vs. Georgia, with 34 yards and a touchdown on 34 rushes and 639 yards on 56.3% passing with a TD and two interceptions.
“It’s tough moving the ball on Georgia; I know that from experience,” Nix said. “But we just need to go out there and execute as a team.”
2. Dan Lanning’s meteoric rise
The Bulldogs were ranked No. 3 in the first coaches preseason poll released Monday. Oregon opened at No. 12.
Lanning actually had several opportunities to leave Georgia before accepting the Ducks’ offer in December. That’s why he got a raise and/or a promotion every season he was in Athens.
“The benefit of working at a place like Georgia is you don’t have to leave unless it’s an elite situation,” Lanning said. “Coach (Kirby) Smart was really good for me. It was in an environment where I was always learning and getting better.”
Lanning turned down the defensive coordinator’s job and allegedly a significant raise in salary from Texas after the 2020 season. There are rumors of some head-coaching opportunities also coming Lanning’s way, though he declined to confirm any.
But considering Lanning was a receivers coach at Park Hill South High in Richmond, Mo., just 11 years ago and a grad assistant at Alabama in 2015, Lanning’s rise is remarkable by any measure.
“I wake up every single day and realize how blessed I am to be in the position I am,” said Lanning, who also beat out two sitting SEC head coaches and one from the Pac-12 to land the Oregon job. “I certainly don’t take that for granted.”
Credit: Chip Towers
Credit: Chip Towers
3. Not ‘copy/paste’ of Georgia
Lanning proudly accepts his distinction as a branch in Smart’s coaching tree.
“I’m certainly in coach Smart’s tree, but I’m probably in a lot of people’s trees,” Lanning said with a laugh Monday. “You know, coach (Mike) Norvell, coach (Nick) Saban, coach (Todd) Graham, coach (K.C.) Keeler. I’ve been around all those guys and learned a lot from each one of them.”
While Lanning has worked for all those coaches, similarities to Smart are evident at Oregon. For instance, Lanning carries around a microphone at practice, which he pulls out to address the whole team at times or as a means for providing encouragement or correction.
More notably, just this past week, Lanning had Oregon add on one wall surrounding the practice fields behind Autzen Stadium the four “DNA traits” he wants established for his football program. In giant yellow letters on a green windscreen, it now says “CONNECTION, TOUGHNESS, GROWTH, SACRIFICE.”
That likely sounds remarkably familiar to Georgia fans. The “pillars” that Smart espouses for the Bulldogs’ football program are “connection, toughness, resiliency and composure.”
Similarities aside, Lanning insists “this is not Georgia; it’s not copy/paste.”
“I’m not a big believer on throwing something up on a wall because it was somewhere else,” Lanning said. “Ultimately, we wanted to get here and assess our program, see what our strength and weaknesses were and ask our players about it. We did that, and we decided these are the things we need to focus on. It’s something that fits us. But connection is something we really built our team on (at Georgia) last year. But connection is important wherever you’re at.”
Credit: Chip Towers
Credit: Chip Towers
4. Team Mariota
Speaking of quarterback battles, there’s also a pretty good one going on between Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder to become the Falcons’ starter. Folks in Eugene are watching that one closely.
Few college players have made a greater impact on a school than Mariota did at Oregon. Not only did he win the Heisman Trophy and numerous other individual awards for the Ducks, but he also took them to the brink of winning it all. Oregon lost to Ohio State in the inaugural College Football Playoff championship in January 2015.
Mariota has struggled to produce similar success in the NFL. But after disappointing stops with the Titans and Raiders, he signed with the Falcons, who are poised to gain a bunch of new fans if Mariota ends up winning the job. “If he wins that job in Atlanta, they will sell thousands of Falcons jerseys all across Oregon,” one TV reporter covering Oregon’s practice Monday said to another.
Mariota’s presence is large in Eugene. The Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center is the primary strength-and-conditioning facility for Oregon athletics. Inside the entryway are displays of all the trophies he won with the Ducks and a display case featuring all his NFL uniforms – they’re still awaiting one from the Falcons – and a giant wall graphic of Mariota from his Oregon playing days.
That’s just the first floor. The second floor features Mariota’s Heisman displayed in a lighted case. It is surrounded by eight black marble blocks, each of them sculpted to resemble the Hawaiian Islands.
Mariota visits the Ducks’ complex often.
“Yeah, I’ve shared a couple of meals with him,” Lanning said. “He works out here a lot during the summer, which I think speaks volumes about what Eugene is like for our players and alumni. He doesn’t get too far from his roots.”
5. Spencer Webb tragedy
Some coaches go their entire careers without getting the phone call they hope to never receive. For Lanning, it came in his sixth month on the job. Tight end Spencer Webb died in a climbing accident at Triangle Lake on July 13.
“It’s something any coach, player, friend, parent hopes to never have to deal with,” Lanning said. “I think our guys have handled that adversity extremely well. I had several coaches reach out to me that had advice or just wanted to be there to show support. Coach Smart was one of them. But you never expect to get that phone call in the middle of the summer.”
After the initial shock, the team has rallied around the tragedy. A spontaneous candlelight vigil was held at Autzen Stadium the night after the accident, a celebration of life ceremony was held July 21, and the entire football team and staff summited 2,058-foot Spencer’s Butte in their fallen teammate’s honor on July 22. The butte, located a few miles outside Eugene, already carried the name of Spencer.
The Ducks are honoring Webb’s memory with decals on their helmets. Other tributes are being planned for the season.
Webb, a 6-5 junior from Sacramento, Calif., was going to be a major contributor and potential starter for the Oregon offense this season. He had played in 29 games and scored a touchdown in the Ducks’ win over Auburn. He caught 31 passes for 296 yards and four touchdowns the past three seasons.
Webb was one of three returning tight ends for Oregon. The Ducks know they can count on Terrance Ferguson (17-141-2) and Moliki Matavao (9-75-1). The possible wildcard is Patrick Herbert. The brother of Justin Herbert has basically had three redshirt seasons because of injuries. Now he’s a sophomore with no career stats. Oregon also moved Terrell Tilmon from outside linebacker to tight end before camp started Friday.
