‘A lot of compete out there;’ Dan Lanning emphasizes controlled aggression after Ducks practice
On Wednesday, the Oregon Ducks will have their first off-day since starting fall practices a little less than a week ago in preparation for the start of the 2022 football season.
As such, you could feel a little bit more juice in the air at practice on Tuesday afternoon.
While the Ducks were in shells (helmets, shoulder pads, shorts) for the final time this week, the physicality and intensity were ramped up with more contact drills and shoulder popping than we’ve seen in the previous days.
After practice came to an end, head coach Dan Lanning talked to media members about what he’s seen from his team so far in the past week, and where he hopes things go from here.
Here are some of the notable quotes from that interview:
Opening Statement
Lanning: “Really good day of practice, and our guys strained. There’s a lot of compete out there. One thing we talked to our team about is just controlled aggression. Right? Football is meant to be played a certain way. Sometimes we get ramped up and we’re attacking each other. We got to realize that doesn’t help us win football games, right? We got to take it out in between the whistles, really control that. But our guys have done a good job, finished really hard there at the end with a good conditioning period. Pleased with the progress.”
Camp Evaluation
Question: How would you evaluate the first five days of camp so far?
Lanning: “It’s been good work. Our guys have done a good job. Still plenty of mistakes, not where we need to be yet but I’m pleased with the progress. We talked a lot about finishing practice after day one. How do you guys improve in that aspect between the first hour and I think our conditionings kicked up. You know, our guys have done a good job today. You know, I thought some of our hardest running took place in the last 10 minutes of practice. Which is always a benefit. Because these guys really push themselves at the front end. We probably got to strain a little bit more at the beginning. But the guys had a really good finish today.”
Young Players Responding
Q: How have the young players responded to physicality so far in camp?
Lanning: “Yeah, I think the physicality I mean, that’s something, if you’re going to bite as a pup you’re gonna bite as a dog. And we can try to force that a little bit. But the reality is, you know, you’re a physical player, you’re going to be a physical player. I think what you notice as you get into day five and day six once you start to recognize who’s actually got their head buried in their playbook and who’s spending the extra time because it’s hard to play fast and know if you don’t know what you’re doing, and that probably sticks out the young guys that are putting in the extra time that’s required to be successful. Those are the guys who are reaping the benefits right now.”
Freshman Standout
Q: Who is a player that has stood out in that sense?
Lanning: “There’s a few guys, I just threw kudos to Khamari Terrell, he’s done a really good job of meeting and taking extra time to watch film, doing the doing little things. That’s a good example of one guy.”
Proving Themselves
Q: Are there any guys who you’re looking at and still waiting for them to prove themselves in a sense?
Lanning: “I mean, by no means are we ready for a game yet and there are still some opportunities for us to see some guys grow up here. Like you said we haven’t really truly been in full pads yet. You know, shells get you pretty close. And you’ll see like I said who’s gonna buy but I think there’s time will tell.”
Casey Rogers
Q: How as transfer Casey Rogers been able to fit into the defense thus far?
Lanning: “Casey has done a really good job. He’s one of those guys that just operates like a pro. He understands what it’s supposed to look like. He’s really intelligent. He pushes the other players. I feel like that D line has really ramped itself up with guys like Casey, Jordon joining the fold and getting our guys that were injured back. It looks like a completely different group than it did in the spring.”
Rogers and Riley Chemistry
Q: Have you seen a chemistry between Casey Rogers and Jordon Riley after coming over from Nebraska together?
Lanning: “Yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s interesting, they probably couldn’t be more polar opposites right but on the same note they were coached by coach Tuioti there at Nebraska, and then coming here I think they brought some of that familiarity with Coach into that room, but there’s a really good bond in there right now.”
OL Depth
Q: How have you seen depth starting to emerge on the offensive line?
Lanning: “Fortunate for us we’ve been able to get a lot of young guys reps early. And there’s been some guys that have stuck out and had really good days. You know, Josh Conerly had a good day, had a really good rep and competition today. Competition drill, we do kind of a one on one drill. He did a really good job. Seen some good things from Dave (Iuli), seen some good things from Kawika (Rogers). A lot of those young guys have done well up front.”
Bo Nix's Leadership
Q: How has Bo’s rumored off-field leadership translated into practice?
Lanning: “I think it has shown up you know, I think Bo’s earned the respect of a lot of players on the team with the way that he operates, but I think you’ll see that throughout our quarterback room. You know, Ty, Jay, all those guys have really carried on. And I think, you know, Bo’s sat in that seat before so he knows what it looks like. He’s done a good job of carrying that through the entire offense.”
Sam Taki Taimani
Q: How as Sam Taimani fit into this defensive line room thus far after transferring from Washington?
Lanning: “I’ve always felt like you know, your best teams are what I would call player-led teams, you know, and I won’t don’t go into details about what it’s about. But I walk into a team meeting the other day and Sam, you know, ‘Taki,’ he’s in the front of the room. Brian Addison is in the front of the room and they’re talking to the team about the things that we got to do better. The coaches aren’t in the room. So I think that speaks to the character of the players on our team when they’re having those conversations without us in there. And you know, he’s done a really good job and you know what, I think he wants to raise his standard of play. So I think the thing that we want to recognize is sometimes you’re afraid to be a leader and you’re afraid to say things because you’re like, ‘Well, I still make mistakes.’ And the reality is that I make mistakes, the coaches make mistakes, and the players make mistakes. What we’ve got to do his own them, but still be willing to call people out and get better and talk he’s done a good job of that.”
Importance of Opportunities for Young O-Linemen
Q: How valuable is it to be getting these reps for the young offensive linemen?
Lanning: “I think if you asked any offensive line coach, if you asked Coach Klemm or Coach Dillingham, you’d love to say, ‘hey, let’s stick five guys and keep them in a spot and get continuity.’ And there’s truth to that. But the reality is you also want to make sure that you’re working those guys at multiple spots. And I think that’s really what this has created for us as an urgency as coaches to try some guys in different locations to improve our ability to be, you know, adaptable. And you know, you’re gonna take some warts because of that, but those guys have done a really good job of getting better. And you know what, when you go against good competition, you get better.”
Goals for the Day Off (Wednesday)
Q: With the first off-day on Wednesday, what are some of your goals?
Lanning: “Organization with the coaches, you still get the opportunity to get in front of guys and have some meetings set up. So really, to me, it’s go back and assess what we’ve done already. Right, evaluate that. Charge the batteries, make sure that we’re fresh for our players as well. I think that’s really important. You know, people don’t get enough sleep and fall camp. People stay up here till 1 AM. That’s not what we need as coaches or as players. So we hit the reset button, make sure we’re doing a good job of pushing that forward, evaluate what we’ve done already and assess what do we need to keep pushing from an install standpoint.”
