Dan Lanning Expects More Early Enrollees to Join Oregon in April
The Oregon Ducks wrapped up their second of 15 spring football practices on Saturday at the Hatlfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene.
Dan Lanning likes the energy he's seen so far. Even though it's only been two practices, he and his staff used those two days to get a feel for who's comfortable out on the field and how young players are adjusting to the college level.
Players that he has a particularly close eye on are the early enrollees from the 2023 recruiting class. Jordan Burch, Jestin Jacobs and Traeshon Holden highlight the new arrivals from the transfer portal, while names like quarterback Austin Novosad, cornerback Cole Martin and running back Dante Dowdell represent the early enrollee freshmen getting their first taste of college ball.
Oregon WR Tez Johnson
Brayden Horrocks/Ducks Digest
Oregon True Freshman QB Austin Novosad
Brayden Horrocks/Ducks Digest
Oregon True Freshman CB Cole Martin
Brayden Horrocks/Ducks Digest
Despite already having a majority of the 2023 recruiting class enrolled--more than 25 players in fact--Dan Lanning is expecting more players to join the Ducks as early enrollees when practice resumes on April 4.
"We'll see a few more,"Lanning said after Saturday's practice." I don't have an exact number but we'll see a few more guys come back after spring break when the next term starts."
Ducks Digest has already confirmed at least two players who will be arriving in cornerback Solomon Davis and linebacker Jerry Mixon.
Lanning is well aware that he's added a large number of players to his team and done so early in the calendar year, but it's not something we're only seeing in Eugene.
"It's probably the new norm in college football," the head coach said. "There's going to continue to be change. Some guys will come, some guys will go, but we're always going to do everything we can to enhance our program."
Even with all the players that have already joined the Ducks this spring, whether from the high school or college level, Lanning acknowledged there's a few players he and the staff will have to wait until the summer to see.
That said, he was straightforward about how valuable of a time spring football and winter workouts are for early enrollees in getting them adjusted.
"You want guys here as fast as you can. That's not always going to happen. There's some guys that we'd love that we could have here early, but the more you can get here early, it's like having an additional redshirt year for guys that are brand new."
We'll continue looking into players that could join the Ducks when they resume spring practice, but I wouldn't be surprised to see cornerback Daylen Austin and safety Tysheem Johnson arrive and enroll in time to join practice.
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