Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's second scrimmage

Fall camp is over in one week.

That's how close the college football season is, and then it's time for actual game-planning for an opponent, and in Oregon's case, that will be Boise State for a Sept. 5 tilt inside Autzen Stadium.

For that game and for the season as a whole, the Ducks held their second scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. Although the scrimmage was closed to the media, head coach Dan Lanning talked to the press after his team had a productive scrimmage.

He touched on a variety of subjects, including grading his team, what the offensive line may look like, and NFL players returning for a fifth season . Although that was probably the last thing Lanning wanted to talk about, he wasn't shy with his opinions on the issue.

Typically, the coach would rather talk about the team he has in front of him and their prospects for the upcoming 2026 season. There's a ton of excitement surrounding this version of Duck football as they pursue their first-ever national title, which seems to be within reach like never before.

Here's everything Lanning had to say after the second scrimmage.

Opening Statement

Good scrimmage today, some good works. It'll be the last time that we really get a lot of live tackling in practice before we get to a game. Ultimately, guys came out relatively healthy. So I felt like they did a good job of that, some really good examples of protecting their teammates and not taking shots that were unnecessary. I'd say last scrimmage, I'd say the offense got the better of the defense. I'd say today the defense got the better of the offense. Had some good drives, put together some rhythm, but didn't capitalize, able to finish on those drives. You know, there's some takeaways today. The kicking game was much better today. You know, Rocco did a good job. He was four for four. Gage did a good job. We had good kick locations from our punters. But overall, really good compete and something to build off of once we watch the film.

Figuring out the O-line

Question: As this camp has gone on and you've had more opportunities to see them in live reps, how have you seen the offensive line's development and, you know, starting to identify those guys?

Dan Lanning: Yeah, there's some that have made it more clear with the way that they compete and their consistency,and then there's some that are still continuing to figure out who's the best version of them out there. So I think that we need those continued reps. I don't think there's any clear decisions, especially without watching the film, on these are the first five or these are the guys that are going to be able to rotate in. We still got to watch that film and assess it. Plenty of time to figure that out.

More O-line

Q: You kind of just touched on it a little bit there, but when do you kind of make that transition of, like in spring ball, you just throw guys in groups and it's all mished up of experienced new guys. When do you start kind of going, hey, we think these are maybe the eight guys in play to play along the offensive line for this season? When do you start making that kind of decision?

DL: I think we've already done that. We already have a clear picture of what that looks like. When it becomes more defined and when it's very clear, it's when it makes it easy. But I wouldn't say it's to that point yet.

Special teams becoming special

Q: You mentioned special teams being better this week. How did you see the guys just kind of attack this week to kind of have a better product during the scrimmage after maybe not disappointing?

DL: Well, they had harder kicks last week too. I mean, we were taking some long shots, but we had, you know, what, three kicks over 50 today. You know, so I think that was a positive. And then just, you know, kick locations, like I said, with punt were better. Our kickoffs, you know, last week we hit one out of bounds. I don't think it's anything that these guys are doing different. Maybe it's a level of focus when they're out there.

Perich leading the way

Q: Obviously bringing in Koi Perich, you expect him to be one of the guys that leads this defense. I'm curious how that has transpired over the last couple weeks and what you're starting to see from him.

DL: Yeah, I really heard his voice out there today. He's been physical since the day he got here. There's some things that he's attacked and improved, but today is one of those days that I definitely felt his presence out there in the field, whether that be as a communicator or the way that he finished plays. And again, I'm still going to watch the film. I'm sure there's some things for him to clean up, but he's been a really pleasant surprise for us.

Linebacker development

Q: Speaking of communication, how have Jerry (Mixon) and Devon (Jackson) really stepped up in the middle there too at inside linebacker?

DL: Yeah, they've done a good job, you know, and I think that's one of those positions where we have, you know, multiple guys that are playing above the line football there that can help us, and, you know, those two included.

Moore chemistry with Stewart

Q: Plenty of different targets for Dante (Moore), you know, this season, but one that he's probably building more of a rapport with this fall is Evan Stewart, and he was someone you were excited about at the start of camp. How have these last couple weeks been for him?

DL: Yeah, he's had really good camp. He's played really well. I don't think he got quite as many targets today, but he came up with a really big play in our game on the line period there at the end. I mean, he's done a really good job, and obviously those guys have a unique connection.

Game planning

Q: With two weeks left until the regular season, just curious, is game planning starting next week, or what's the future ...

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