A Scouts/Coaches View of Oregon Football Post-Spring Game

[Charles Fischer]

This came from a Husky website that claims that this came from un-named scouts and coaches.   There are thoughts below that are accurate, some dumb, and some wrong. Pictures are from the files of "yours-truly."

 

Your thoughts about this article?

 

Spring football concluded a couple of weeks ago and as we've done annually (except for a two-year break due to COVID), calls were made to coaches and scouts who attended practices at each Pac 12 school to give us their honest and candid views of the programs. Each coach and scout submitted these with the understanding that their comments would be anonymous and they had some interesting things to say about each school.

 

Today, we continue our series with the Oregon Ducks...

"What I am most interested in seeing is how Dan Lanning has grown as a head coach. He was in over his head in the Washington and Oregon State games last year toward the end of those games. Those were the most egregious games where you could see he didn't know what to do. There were plenty of times where you could say 'why isn't he calling timeout?' or 'why did they do that?' in those games.

 

Lanning is really good at rallying his guys. He is a positive coach. He doesn't yell at his guys, he's much more of a teacher. He's got a ton of support there and they have that recruiting juggernaut going full tilt there, so they'll always have that talent there, but I just question the staff they have there. Can they develop them or do they just stay as elite high school recruits who don't do much after they get to campus?"

 

 

"As Bo Nix goes, so goes the Oregon offense. If he's healthy, they'll win pretty much every game they play, but the thing is, can he stay healthy? He got hurt in that Washington game and then in the OSU game, it was obvious he was about 80% of the guy who we'd seen all season long. Another thing to think about is that he's had his two best seasons as a player under Kenny Dillingham and now he's gone. Does he mesh well with the new OC (Will Stein)? Big question mark there. During spring ball, you could see they were still sorta feeling their way through things.

 

They're both professionals, so I think they'll get there, but how long does it take for them to really mesh? (Stein) has a great track record with QBs, so I think they'll be okay, but it's still a situation to keep an eye on."

 

"Their running backs were ridiculous last year, but part of that was because they had a really good and experienced offensive line. They don't have that experience like they did last year. I still think their running game will be outstanding, but maybe it won't be as dynamic as it was last season. Not sure on that yet. (Stein) likes to throw the ball around and he comes up with different ways to get the ball into the hands of the playmakers, so it'll be interesting to see how they use (Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington) and if they wind up incorporating more guys into the running game. They have some talented tailbacks, but there's only one ball to go around."

 

"Their defense was pretty bad last season. They really struggled against teams with talented passing games last season and that secondary didn't look much better in the couple of practices I was there. Now, some of that is because Nix is good and (Troy) Franklin is really talented, but still, sheesh, not really what you want to see." 

"A couple of new guys who really showed they were ready to make a splash were (freshman DB) Cole Martin, (redshirt linebacker) Devon Jackson and (transfer wide receiver) Tez Johnson. They need dynamic DBs in that secondary and Martin showed he could be a guy that sees a lot of time this season. Jackson flies around. I loved watching him. Instinctive guy. The coaches are really excited about Johnson. He should take some of the pressure off of Franklin."

 

 

"A big key for this season will be their defense. Their offense is still going to score although they probably won't dominate up front like they did last season, so maybe they don't average 38.8 per game like they did last year, but they should still be around 35 per game. That's plenty, so it's really going to come down to getting key stops in games. Tosh Lupoi, I just don't see it. Not sure what they were thinking there (making him the defensive coordinator).

 

I don't think he is a good schematic guy and Lanning will have to be the one who runs a lot of that side, but does that take away from him being able to focus on other things? Their front seven should be good, but they have to get a pass-rush this year and I think they feel they have the pieces to do that. We'll see."

 

"As far as their overall season, I think they'll be a double-digit win team, but they've got some tough games. That game at (Washington) is going to be a great game and that's a tough game for them.

 

Their defense doesn't match up well with (Washington's), so that'll be a fun game to watch in how the staffs scheme against each other. They're also at Utah and then they have USC and Oregon State at home. Those could all be losses, but I bet they win two of those. 10-2 is a good number for them. It's still a really talented team, but their coaching is 'iffy'. Give this team to a staff like Kyle Whittingham and they probably go undefeated, but he's at Utah, so we'll see.

 

I like Lanning and think he's a guy who can be successful, but I think he needs a better staff. He's got some good coaches, but there are some important spots on the staff he needs to upgrade. I think he knows that and we'll see what happens after the season."