Lanning's fall camp to-do list before Oregon's season opener vs. Georgia

Four months after spring camp concluded, it is time for players and coaches to return to Moshofsky Center.

Fall camp will begin Friday morning at Oregon.

In less than a month, the Ducks and coach Dan Lanning will begin their season against the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta — the same team that Lanning helped win a national championship last year. Prior to then, Oregon will look to improve on a 10-4 season where the team lost three of its final four games.

Not only do the Ducks have a new coach in charge of the program, but they will also need to replace several key players. Among them are Kayvon Thibodeaux, Verone McKinley and Travis Dye, the team's leaders from a year ago.

However, many key players return, including Byron Cardwell, Noah Sewell and most of Oregon's starters on the offensive line. What do we hope to learn from fall camp?

Here are the questions facing Lanning leading up to the season opener.

Who will start at quarterback?

Bo Nix was the leader in the clubhouse after his performance in the annual spring game where he threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns. However, will Nix be able to maintain the same momentum he displayed in the spring?

Lanning has not announced a starting quarterback for Oregon's opener against Georgia. Nix will compete in the fall camp with Ty Thompson and Jay Butterfield, who have limited game experience.

Thompson, a former 5-star recruit, threw 15 pass attempts for 87 yards last season, tossing two touchdowns and an interception last season. Butterfield has three pass attempts on his resume, completing two of them.

During Pac-12 Media Days, Lanning said he was excited about the potential of all three players.

"Just at the end of the day, you want to know you have quarterbacks in your program you think you can win with," Lanning said. "I think we have multiple guys that can do that, with Bo, Ty and Jay have all been extreme competitors.

"Probably more than anything, I've been excited with their passion to improve. To be elite, to be a special player, you have to go above and beyond.

"All of those guys have really contributed in the success of what work they did this summer when people weren't watching, what it looked like when there weren't people standing on the field assessingtheir efforts."

Will Oregon use a committee of running backs?

Oregon was led by Dye and its rushing attack. Dye transferred to USC in the offseason, but the Ducks are still pretty stacked in the backfield.

Byron Cardwell returns after playing in all 14 games and rushed for 417 yards and three touchdowns on 61 carries as a backup. He also led the Pac-12 with 6.84 yards per carry.

Cardwell will likely be Oregon's lead running back, the team could undoubtedly use a running back by committee situation. The Ducks added Noah Whittington (Western Kentucky) and Mar'Keise Irving (Minnesota) through the transfer portal. They also have Sean Dollars returning after he suffered a significant injury and missed the entire 2021 season.

While at Florida State, offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham was accustomed to several running backs being used in an offensive system. That could certainly be the case at Oregon as well.

Which newcomers will stand out?

Oregon added a few new players during the offseason who have a chance to receive playing time in 2022.

Among them are wide receiver Chase Cota, cornerback Christian Gonzalez and defensive lineman Sam Taimani.

Cota came over from UCLA to provide depth to a young receiver corps. If Cota's last name sounds familiar, his father Chad Cota, who played safety, is inducted into the Ducks' Hall of Fame.

Gonzalez transferred from Colorado in January and he will likely be Oregon's top cornerback after Mykael Wright decided to a head to the NFL. With Oregon's secondary lacking experience, having a top corner like Gonzalez could prove to pay dividends.

Taimani played four seasons at Washington and registered 68 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. The 6-foot-2, 330-pounder should provide depth inside for Lanning and the Ducks defense.

How much will the defense improve in Lanning's first season?

Last year, Oregon's defense ranked 71st in the nation as it gave up an average of 384.6 yards per game. They also were the 75th scoring defense in the country (27.0).

Lanning and his staff will hope to improve that in a hurry. Under his leadership, Lanning oversaw a Georgia defense that was statistically one of the best units in recent memory. The Bulldogs were the nation's best in scoring defense (10.2) and second in total defense (267.9).

During the spring, many players crossed trained in multiple positions, which should be important especially when injuries happen throughout the season.

"I believe in position versatility," Lanning said. "I believe in figuring out ways to have your best 11 players on the field. Another mantra of mine is always if you're good enough, you're old enough.

"If we have players that are good enough, we want to find a role for them on our team, want to be able to have them contribute to our success.

"When you have guys that can learn multiple positions, have guys that can move around and are smart and intelligent, at the end of the day it only benefits your team whenever an injury occurs or a certain pressure package, personnel grouping can be changed to adapt to ourstrengths."

Contact Register-Guard sportswriter Antwan Staley at astaley@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @antwanstaley.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Top decisions in Oregon football fall camp before season starts