Notable quotes from Dan Lanning following Oregon’s first spring practice
The second year of Dan Lanning’s tenure in Eugene with the Oregon Ducks officially started on Thursday morning, with the team taking the field for their first spring practice of the year.
It’s a season that has some high expectations from fans and the college football world at large, with quarterback Bo Nix coming back for one final season, boasting aspirations of being named a Heisman Trophy finalist when all is said and done.
After notching 10 wins in his first year with the Ducks, Lanning knows that he will need a strong second act in order to keep the momentum rolling in Eugene. As the Ducks continue to work towards the annual spring game on April 29th, we got a chance to catch up with the head coach following the first of 15 practices. Here are some of his most notable quotes from the interview:
Opening Statement
Dan Lanning: “Day one. I haven’t been around a lot of spring practices that weren’t good on day one. Everybody has juice and energy, a lot of enthusiasm. Practice was well-organized guys were running to the right locations and with a lot of new bodies you hope that’s the expectation. Guys playing hard but we don’t really have pads on either. So this is not real football yet in my mind, but guys are definitely turned in the right direction. See some new guys stepping up to be leaders which is positive. And I’m really excited about the direction we’re headed.”
Looking Forward
Question: What’s the biggest thing that you want to address this spring?
Lanning: “I’m not really there yet. You know, ultimately, you want to figure out what the strengths of your team are. And then you want to make sure that you’re doing a good job as a coach, lean on those strengths. But we want to play with maximum effort, and make sure we have a good understanding of what we’re doing fundamentally, what our scheme is, and how we fit within that scheme. But we’re really not even past break right now today. I’m focused on today.”
Players who Jump Out
Question: Were there any players who really jumped out at you today in leadership roles?
Lanning: “It’d be hard to mention one or two but like, you know, a guy that really stands out to me going into year two is Josh Conerly. This guy’s working his tail off in everything that he absolutely does. The way he stretches just the way he approaches everything you know, his mentality, and in the classroom as well. You know, Jamal Hill, the guy on defense that’s really stepped up and has shifted and been in different locations, but it really showed some maturity there. Jeff Bassa you know, Bo, I mean, there’s I think there are several guys probably definitely remiss not naming some of those.”
Improvement from Last Spring
Question: How do you think the overall structure of practice has improved from last spring?
Lanning: “You know, we take pretty meticulous notes. So we just try not to make the same mistakes twice. If we thought last year on day one that we want to start on this yard line for a certain drill and we want to be really on the 15, we saw that and you know, we made sure this year we started the drill on the 15. You know, just having some of these walkthroughs that lead up to spring ball. We’re able to go through some situations before we actually get to spring ball so we can make sure it’s really detailed and clean with speed on the field. I took a lot of notes today and stuff that we can still do better. So that’s what we’ll attack next practice.”
Reps for Newcomers
Question: How important is it to get some extra reps for the newcomers and new guys on the team?
Lanning: “Yeah, it’s extremely critical. I mean, every rep is a game rep, right? And it doesn’t matter if it’s a walkthrough rep. It’s a game rep. It’s an opportunity to learn, make mistakes, learn from somebody else’s mistakes, so we’re gonna get as many reps as we can for newcomers and everybody else.”
Expectations for Newcomers
Question: What are you looking for when watching practice film from these newcomers?
Lanning: “Are we playing fast? Right? Do they understand what we’re trying to accomplish? Because I think you want to see what guys can play football. We’re not out here trying to help scheme each other right now. It’s not about you know, who can draw up the best play. It’s about seeing who can play football. So what we’re trying to assess right now is okay, who’s a good football player? Do we have him in the right position? And if they’re, if it’s a blinking light, if they’re going slow, well, how do we speed that up? How can we make that easier on them?”
Recruits at Practice
Question: How important is it to get some of these recruits on visits to see you guys work at practice?
Lanning: “Our best pitch in recruiting is when people come and watch that practice and they see the way we work. They see how we develop talent and they see how much our guys enjoy practice. So it’s really important for us to take advantage of this beautiful place. Get people here where they can experience it firsthand and see it for themselves.”
Building Chemistry
Question: How important is it for you guys to build chemistry among players at this point in the season?
Lanning: “Well, it starts every Wednesday night for us, starts with our get rights. It starts with those sessions outside. You know, the other day we went and ate breakfast together as a team and put our cell phones in the middle of the table and if you pick it up, you have to pay the bill. Right? Right. And so those guys are spending time talking to each other. You got to get around and try to create as much connection as possible away from just the football field. And in those moments, it’s going to make you stronger on the field.”
Bo and Ty
Question: The QB competition last year between Bo and Ty was different than it is this year. How has that allowed them to maybe focus more on the offense rather than the QB competition?
Lanning: “Well, I think competition breeds excellence. I think right now, Bo and Ty would both tell you that they’re out there competing every single day. Certainly having another year in our system and how we operate has made both those guys a lot more comfortable but I’m really happy with how they’re both performing how they perform today.”
Limiting Bo
Question: How do you go about trying to limit Bo a little bit with his injury history after the end of last season?
Lanning: “You got to do a combination of both as a coach; you got to be smart but the only way you get better at playing football is playing football, right? So you don’t go out there and not practice to get better, right? So we have to be conscientious of our reps. We’re like that with every single position. But that’s where we lean on our medical staff and people that are in this organization to point us in the right direction.”
Spring Expectations
Question: What are your expectations going into the next couple of practices?
Lanning: “I expect this to be consistent, right? We don’t want to be one-hit wonders. We talked about that today. We’re trying to be consistent. So in our approach, we’re not coming out here trying to have a one-hit song, we’re trying to make sure we put two and stack days one day on top of the other.”
Pac-12 Media Deal
Question: With the Pac-12 working to finalize a new media rights deal, have you had any conversations with Rob Mullens about your opinions on where they go in the future?
Lanning: “Yeah, I’m concerned about coaching the football team. You know, Oregon’s obviously a great product. I think you look at this conference. You see a lot of great football teams right now playing at an elite level. I’m excited to go play this year’s game. I’m really not worried about the next piece. That’s not my job.”
Spring Excitement
Question: What gets you the most excited about spring football?
Lanning: “Well you see some guys change their body, sees the guys work really hard to get healthy. I mean what I love about football is this I enjoy practice. I enjoy coaching. I enjoy game day. So this is certainly my favorite part of the season outside of football season. So just getting to get out there on the grass and run around and see the fruits of your labors. See all the hard work you put in the weight room and offseason carry over to the practice fields really.”
Austin Novosad
Question: What are your early impressions of Austin Novosad so far?
Lanning: “Well I think he’s really smart. I think that shows the way he attacks each day and plays. I know he wants a couple of plays back today. And I know he’s gonna be a guy that cares enough that he’s gonna learn from it and so I’m excited about his progress. He throws a tight spiral, and does a good job of the ball but he needs to deliver it in the right location a few more times.”
Jeffrey Bassa
Question: How have you seen Jeffrey Bassa transform over this off-season?
Lanning: “Yeah, I think he’s attacked a lot of things and we had a nutrition plan going into for the offseason for him. I think he’s done a really good job of being diligent and focused on that. Year two in this defense is so different than year one and just being a leg ahead understanding you know, I expect him not just coach himself but to start coaching some guys around him. You start to see that show up for him to get bigger during the offseason.”
New Coaches
Question: What are your impressions of the new coaches on the staff and how they’ve gone to work since getting to Eugene?
Lanning: “I mean, again, I think we have the structure in place, the organization in place where these guys were able to come in and they’re great coaches. We’re able to go hire elite coaches. You know, we had some great guys here and we replaced them with great guys that all bring phenomenal talents. But these guys are veterans, understand how to coach you know, I know A’lique is on the younger side, but he has a wealth of experience and is familiar with this place. What these guys are going to be able to do to develop and then there are some guys that were able to bring in support staff roles. I think we’ve done a really good job of being all hands on deck right now.”
