Oregon Ducks Head Coach Dan Lanning Addresses Ducks Scrimmage

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00:00Beautiful day in Eugene, man.

00:08It was a great day for some football.

00:09I thought our guys went out there and had competitive toughness,

00:12really operated fairly clean, certainly some things to clean up,

00:17but saw some good from both sides of the ball,

00:19some explosive plays on offense, some great pursuit from defense.

00:23Got to get an opportunity to look at the film

00:25and see exactly what we saw, but our guys worked today.

00:27All right, front ride, Zach.

00:30Anything you guys did in terms of leadership,

00:32not on the field play, but in terms of stepping up vocally today?

00:34Yeah, I saw some of that, so I still want to see more.

00:36You know, just pointed out a couple good examples

00:38out there on the field today,

00:40so continue to always look for more of that.

00:44Dan, it's been a pretty big story the last 48 hours in college football.

00:47Could you contact Josh Heupel or anyone in Tennessee?

00:49I'm not getting anything else except let's talk about a scrimmage today.

00:53The Ducks worked really hard at a scrimmage today.

00:56Aaron in the back.

01:00You kind of talked about kind of throughout the week

01:04that defense won the scrimmage or the practice last week.

01:08What kind of response did you see from the offense to today's scrimmage?

01:11Yeah, we had a, you know, just an example of that.

01:14Ball was backed up probably at the four or three-yard line

01:17and had a big play explosive touchdown, you know, shortly after that.

01:20So that's what you want to see, you know, in spring ball is some back and forth.

01:25And I thought we had some good back and forth today.

01:28You know, it went both ways at times.

01:30You know, the times, you know, offense had success.

01:32Their down period, defense had success.

01:34So it was just some good competitive periods today.

01:38Physicality is something you've always emphasized in practice.

01:41How do you think that showed up today?

01:42Yeah, well, we're tackling, right?

01:43And I think that's how you become a great football team.

01:46You got to practice it.

01:47So it doesn't happen on accident.

01:48And I think you saw some really good moments of that.

01:51Again, anxious to watch the film and see what showed up.

01:53Back left, Matt.

01:55When you have a new quarterback or whoever it's going to be,

01:58what are you looking for to stand out in a scrimmage for you?

02:01Say that again?

02:02When you got a new opening at quarterback position,

02:05what are you looking for to show up with those guys in the scrimmage?

02:08Yeah, efficiency, right?

02:09Like who can operate and keep the ball out of jeopardy, right?

02:12Who understands the system?

02:14You know, the thing about quarterback is you got to be able to get everybody lined up.

02:17You got to understand the protections.

02:18You got to understand the play clock, right?

02:21The operation.

02:22So there's a lot that we ask our quarterback to do here.

02:24I think that allows them to play fast once they get in a real rhythm of that.

02:28But who's moving the ball down the field, right?

02:31Matriculating the ball down the field.

02:32Who's creating, you know, touchdowns, right?

02:35Makes the play of the people around them better

02:37and then is able to operate our system.

02:40Coach, obviously spring game just a couple weeks away now at this point.

02:44How far along do you feel like the team is at this point?

02:46And do you feel like they're maybe excelling

02:48or a little bit further beyond where you want them to be at this point?

02:50I feel like we're at practice eight, right?

02:52We just had practice eight and got opportunities to continue to get some more work here

02:56over the next few weeks.

02:57So right now I'm worried about what's next.

02:59You know, not looking too far down the road.

03:02Today or the first eight practices in general,

03:05just what have you seen from Alex Harkey and Emmanuel Pregnon on the offensive line?

03:09Well, both, you know, physically gifted guys.

03:12You know, I think they walk out there with a temperament.

03:14Yeah, there's very few teams that I've been around that have an O-line

03:17that feels like our O-line, right?

03:18And I think that's credit to Coach Terry and the guys that support him

03:20in the offensive, you know, in the offensive line room.

03:23Coach Cutter, right?

03:24Coach Wormack, Coach Walk, those guys.

03:26They all work extremely hard.

03:28And you see that showing up with guys like Pregnon

03:30and guys like Harkey that you mentioned,

03:32but also several other guys in that room.

03:34You know, they're close, connected, work hard, you know,

03:37and there's a lot of room for growth and opportunities for us to get better there.

03:39But those guys are working.

03:43You've just touched on all spring about the impressive talent,

03:47but the lack of experience in a lot of these position groups this upcoming season.

03:53I'm curious in a scrimmage, just how much experience does that help

03:57some of these younger players that are going to have to step up into these new roles?

04:00Like what's that experience like compared to maybe a game experience,

04:04compared to maybe what they're going to see in the spring game?

04:07Yeah, I mean, you get better football by playing football.

04:11So days like today make us better, right?

04:13And every one of those situations is different.

04:16We want it to be as close to a game day as we can on days like today,

04:20but there's a difference, right?

04:22And you're working against your own team, right?

04:25And there's some real competitive periods,

04:26but you've got to move on to the next play too.

04:28So I think we have to see all those things in these scrimmages,

04:30but we're going to take advantage of every scrimmage,

04:32every practice we can to create that.

04:34Back left, Matt.

04:35How much do you tell your quarterbacks not to be what Bo did or what Dylan did?

04:42And how much have they kind of embraced playing to who they are

04:45and not trying to live up to what the guys previously did?

04:48I think that's everybody in our organization, right?

04:50Not just exclusively quarterbacks.

04:52I think coaches have to be who they are, right?

04:54Players have to be who they are.

04:56So everybody understands that.

04:57But I also know where's one on a play progression, right?

05:00Where do my eyes need to start?

05:02What do I need to be able to do?

05:03And there's a teaching progression, a play progression to everything that we do.

05:07Same with quarterbacks.

05:08So I'm more concerned about are their eyes in the right spot to start, right?

05:12Are they making the right calls, the right reads, the right checks?

05:14And are they putting the ball in jeopardy?

05:16Are they protecting the ball?

05:17But you have to be you when you're out there on that field.

05:20A lot of youth, but some talent there in the quarterback room.

05:25Just how do you feel like they performed today?

05:27And what are the things you're trying to see in a scrimmage

05:29compared to what you see every day in practice?

05:30You said corner?

05:31Corner, yeah.

05:31Yeah, I mean, some good, some bad, right?

05:33Saw some physicality show up today.

05:35Some guys have to make tackles in space,

05:37which is one of the hardest things to do in football.

05:39Saw some guys get beat over the top at times today, too.

05:42So that's going to happen, right?

05:44And what we got to do is learn from those mistakes.

05:45But I see a group that's really hungry, eager to learn,

05:48taking advantage of their opportunities when they're on the field,

05:50and maximizing those chances.

05:52Last question, James.

05:53Where have you seen Amari Washington develop this spring specifically?

05:57And how important has his patience been, Dan, in this time with Transit Portal, etc.?

06:01Because the interior D-line class before him, those guys left.

06:04Some guys who came in with him, they left.

06:06But now his patience is in line.

06:08Yeah.

06:08I mean, Amari's got unbelievable ability that we're really excited about.

06:12And you see a guy that's worked extremely hard since he got here.

06:14Sometimes it's hard, you know, early on to be able to make huge contributions there

06:19on the defensive line.

06:19But he's become a guy that we really count on.

06:22He has explosive power.

06:23He has great strength.

06:24And he understands his job when he's out on the field.

06:27So really proud of his progress and the teammate that he is

06:30and what he does for our team.

06:31All right.

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