Oregon Coach Dan Lanning Coy On Receiver Injury Timelines Before Playoff Game

EUGENE – The No. 5 Oregon Ducks were without wide receiver Dakorien Moore, Gary Bryant Jr. and Evan Stewart at the end of the regular season, but the trio all participated in stretches at team practice on Monday, Dec. 15 ahead of Oregon's first-round matchup with James Madison in the College Football Playoff. Both Moore and Bryant also took part in punt return drills.

Coach Dan Lanning continued to avoid providing a timeline on injuries following the practice.

oregon ducks dan lanning wide receiver college football playoff dakorien moore injury gary bryant evan stewart dante moore — Oct 18, 2025; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning on the field before the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

“Everybody's closer than they were yesterday,” Lanning said. “It's good seeing guys out there.”

Lanning also provided his thoughts on personnel changes and returners for the 2026 season ahead of the team’s College Football Playoff game against James Madison on Saturday.

More video of Oregon's receivers at practice under an ominous Eugene sky.@lilycrane23 #GoDucks https://t.co/pnCuJH0JKI pic.twitter.com/abVFK1knS2
— Oregon Ducks On SI (@OregonDucks_SI) December 15, 2025

What Dan Lanning Said

Opening Statement:

“JMU obviously have done an exceptional job all year. You talk about one of few teams that's top-10 offense, top-10 defense. You watch the offense. They create explosive plays all over the board. The quarterback can run the ball. The running back can run the ball. They extend it down the field. Defensively, they create a lot of issues, a lot of different looks, a ton of variety that we have to be able to practice and go through, but overall, really excited about the opportunity for our guys.”

How Defensive Back Trey McNut Has Attacked Rehab:

“He's done a great job, and all these guys have been really eager. Again, it's about us protecting them from themselves at times. But been really eager to get out there and do the work.”

Bear Alexander’s Growth and 2026 Return:

“Certainly not next year yet, but excited about a guy like Bear that wants to come back. I think it shows a great deal of maturity on his part and how he's grown and developed into the player that we all knew he could be, and he's gotten better and better each week. Continue to see that growth for him, so excited about what that means for our future.”

If Makhi Hughes’ Return if Plausible in 2026 After Redshirt:

“I think it’s plausible for several of our players.”

What All-American Awards Mean to the Program:

“I always think individual success is an attribute to the job that the whole team's done. And I think every one of those guys, I didn't see that, who was awarded what, but we have a lot of guys that deserve recognition. It's great that people are recognizing what our players are doing, but I think every one of those guys will tell you any success that's coming their way, it's a derogative of our team success.”

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What the Messaging Has Been to the Young Group:

“It's one day at a time. Your routine, you try to keep the same. It's a new group. But this group has experience. They played a lot of games this year, and it isn't just another game, right? It's different from that standpoint, right? So, elimination game, but these guys know what the prep looks like.”

What Changed From How They Handled the Extended Break Last Postseason:

“Probably not gonna hop into the details there, but we have a plan.”

Drew Mehringer’s Involvement in Play Calling:

“There's a ton of involvement. I mean, since the day we got here, Drew's been very strategic, and all elements of our game plan, run game, pass game, included personnel changes. He's had a lot of that. But every single offensive coach has been really, really involved in that.”

What Allows His Coordinators to Have Success as Head Coaches:

“I don't think it's anything that I'm doing. I think we hire really good people that work extremely hard, and they realize that Oregon, there's an opportunity and those guys reach their opportunities. So, we hire really good people that work really hard their job,” Lanning said.

“There's a clear direction of the expectations, and those guys do a great job of modeling what it should look like to get that opportunity and become a head coach. They've learned that they've sat in that seat, and maybe it's a different seat, but there's a lot of open lines of communication that are gonna allow them to have success.”

What Chris Hampton Does Well:

“Every guy is in charge of individual pieces of the game plan, but obviously, coach Hampson an outstanding job. I think our secondary units go grown and gotten better every single year, and that's credit to coach (Hampton) and Ra’Shaad and the job that they've done, Coach Wadood, and really just the entire defensive staff, but very involved,” Lanning said.

“We make all of our decisions together. It's very few times we split off into different rooms to make decisions, we come back, and collectively and say, what's good, what's not good, and work through those details, but he's an outstanding coach and excited for his opportunities here.”

How Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi Are Organizing Their Time Between Multiple Jobs:

“Ultimately, it's been when we're here at work, like our hours haven't changed, and when we're here, it's focused on Oregon, right? And then outside of that time is when you have the opportunity to work on things for your opportunities.”

If He Talked About the importance of a Home Playoff Game for the Local Players:

“We talked about it back when we played here before. This hopefully isn't our last opportunity to play on this field, and obviously guys like that are really excited. We had a senior day here. And a lot of those guys were wondering, is this gonna be my last moment to play there and we knew if we took care of business there'd be another opportunity.”

How the Team Benefitted from Time Off:

“Able to finish up strong academically, a chance for us to be able to do a reset as a coaching staff and evaluate, what are we doing really well? What do we need to improve? What wrinkles can we add? And then just a good, continued growth opportunity for our players.”

If They’ve Installed New Schemes During the Time Off:

“I think we've challenged ourselves through that throughout the season, where we always have new wrinkles, new opportunities. We'll see what comes up in this game.”

The Value of Winning Games Without Key Players Heading Into the Postseason:

“I think you always feel the pressure in moments when, especially when we had a hiccup early against Indiana, that we didn't have any room to leave any indecision for anybody afterwards. And our guys really approached that with each game has a life of its own, and we have to go attack it,” Lanning said.

“And we can do it in a variety of ways. And I think that's probably the biggest thing we showed, is we can win in different ways. I think all three phases came together quite a bit in the last four games, where special teams were making big plays, defense or offense, we're making big plays for us, that we're certainly the difference.”

How the Offense Has Grown Throughout the Season:

“Probably more than anything, self-inflicted wounds. And that's just everybody being on the same page. All 11 guys doing their job. That’s something we grade every single game is our ability to execute our job, or at least do our job right. It's not necessarily about you won the one-on-one, but you're where you're supposed to be. I think a lot of it starts when you can eliminate beating yourself and you be yourself. When you have one guy doing something else, anything else.”

JMU’s Quarterback:

“He can move with his legs. But I think what he doesn't get enough credit for is the ability to connect on deep balls downfield. They're a team that has a great play action game, and they're able to hit shots on post routes, and able to attack you down the field vertically, but obviously, he can run.”

JMU’s Defensive Line:

“One, just extremely disruptive, and they do a great job creating one-on-ones, making it challenging where guys are gonna have to win single blocks, they're gonna have to win one-on-one blocks, ID and protections are difficult at times too with some of the looks that they present.”

On the National Narrative Doubting JMU’s Playoff Inclusion:

“Our standard's our standard, right? And you have to this team wouldn't be here if they didn't play well all season and they beat teams that had. You'd say on paper, 'Okay, this team has talent that can out-prepare this team.' That's not the case with these guys,” he said.

“These guys have handled those moments this year and been able to perform really well. So, I watch the film, and I see a really good team that's explosive, that has ability to create plays, but it's really ultimately for our team still going to be about us and our ability to execute.”

If There Will Be Early Enrollees from the Signing Class:

“It will all start really for us in January.”