Seven McGee opens up about decision to return to Oregon after entering transfer portal

In the wake of all of the news that was surrounding the Oregon Ducks in early December, with the recent departure of head coach Mario Cristobal and the new hire of Dan Lanning, many players on the roster were faced with a decsion.

Would they stay, or would they go?

For running back Seven McGee, it was a tough choice to make. He had been committed to Oregon since his freshman year in high school back in 2018, and had just seen a relatively successful true freshman year with the Ducks. But with the coaching staff change, he wasn’t sure Oregon was the place for him anymore.

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On December 13th, two days after Lanning’s hire, McGee announced that he would be entering the transfer portal. Just a couple of hours after announcing that decision, McGee retracted on Twitter, saying that a conversation with Lanning had convinced him to stay in Eugene.

When talking to McGee for the first time since last season, he opened up about that process.

“It was hard, you know, with me being committed here since 2018 as a freshman,” McGee said on Thursday. “You know, seeing that staff leave and having a commitment with [Mario] Cristobal and [Jim] Mastro and a couple of other coaches on our staff. It wasn’t easy, you know? So just going through that process and then just talking to my mother and my family back home just really just making the best decision for me. So just giving Coach Lanning a chance and it’s working out, it’s great.”

So far this spring, McGee has drawn rave reviews from coaches and teammates alike, all of whom say that he is embracing the position change from running back to wide receiver.

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It’s been that, plus the new offense that Oregon’s offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham has introduced, that has McGee excited about his future. Following McGee’s announcement that he would be leaving, he had a talk with both Lanning and Oregon coach Don Johnson. They laid out a plan for how he would be used going forward.

“Just to utilize me everywhere in the field, which is something that we didn’t do last year,” McGee said. “As a team, just moving parts and putting people in places to create one on one matchups. That’s why Coach Lanning and Coach Dillingham are great right now with the offensive scheme. Obviously, Coach Lanning is a defensive coach which is great because he knows the leverages of defense — he had the number one defense, arguably, ever to play the game.”

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While the X’s and O’s are important, McGee said that Lanning’s energy also went a long way to convince him to give the new head coach a shot. It was his vision for the program that ultimately got him to stay.

“Just wanting to win,” McGee said. “Simply just wanting to win, and bringing that mentality to Oregon that we’re going to be a tough-ass team. It’s not just gonna be a team that’s built off fast and wanting to move fast. It’s a tough mentality.”

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