Dan Lanning’s Unique NFL Motivation for Oregon Ducks Scrimmage

The Oregon Ducks scrimmaged on Saturday as fall camp continues towards the start of the regular season, and Oregon coach Dan Lanning spoke about what he's seen from the team afterwards.

Lanning also revealed that the Oregon coaches showed the Ducks highlights of former players in the fall camp scrimmage compared to them making plays in the NFL preseason, notably Indianapolis Colts linebacker Bryce Boettcher, Houston Texans running back Noah Whittington, and New York Jets tight end Kenyon Sadiq.

oregon ducks dan lanning big ten fall camp scrimmage dante moore offense defensive turnover chris hampton drew mehringer — Jul 30, 2026; Westfield, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts linebacker Bryce Boettcher (50) participates in a drill on day two of training camp at Grand Park Sports Campus. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"Yeah, I mean this morning we're watching clips of Noah Whittington and Bryce Boettcher making plays in the scrimmage, Kenyon Sadiq making plays in this exact same scrimmage, and then obviously those guys now are making plays right in the NFL," Lanning said.

"So there's some guys that weren't making plays last year that were making plays in the scrimmage this year. There are some guys that have made some really big strides, but again, we'll evaluate the film and see what it looks like. Overall was pleased with the energy throughout practice, but the film has got to be something we assess really hard," Lanning said.

Boettcher went viral online for his hard hit against the New England Patriots in the Colts' first preseason game. Meanwhile, Whittington carried the ball 13 times for 40 yards for Houston, and Las Vegas Raiders receiver Malik Benson caught 2 passes for 26 yards.

The Oregon coach has shown highlights of former players before, but hearing new Ducks flashing in the latest scrimmage is encouraging to hear. Lanning also talked about the team's mentality and what he's looking for after Saturday's scrimmage:

Dan Lanning's Opening Statement

"Alright overall good scrimmage. The thing you're always hoping for as a coach in this moment is you want to test physicality, the ability to tackle and break tackles, but you also want to walk away healthy and we were able to do that today," said Lanning.

"Some overall really good reps from both sides of the ball. Got to do a better job when it comes to ball security at times. Gotta clean up some special teams play, make sure we're able to get the kicks that we need to be able to get. But overall, a solid performance. Gotta go back and evaluate the film."

"I told our players there's really two things we're looking for when we create a scrimmage, are you accountable? And are you capable, right? Do you do your job when you're asked to do your job and are you capable of doing the job we ask you to do? If you're not, then you're gonna get limited reps. If you do, then you'll continue to grow on this team. So those are the things we're going to evaluate as we watch the film."

On Turnovers in Practice

"There's always a combination of both, you know, tipped balls that we had to be aggressive with. We had a tip ball interception, Peyton Woodyard had one. We had balls on the ground where it wasn't necessarily controlled by defense as much as it's controlled by offense and the way they protect the ball. But yeah, there's moments where we're attacking it really well," said Lanning.

"I think this is the best fault camp we've had is a defense as far as attacking the ball, m which is good. Our offense needs to see that. As far as the feeling from this scrimmage to other comparisons scrimmages, it's I don't have a widely different feeling from others. I'm always a pessimistic guy whenever it comes to what does the performance look like, because I want us to be the best version of us and we're not we're not the best version of us yet, but we're making strides," Lanning continued.

On Linebacker Bleu Dantzler's Improvement

"Yeah, just work. Just work every day coming here and take a step forward and get a little bit better and a little bit more. Early on we do a lot on that side of the ball, so you gotta learn a lot, and he's been a guy that's put in the time to learn a lot. And there's still a lot of room for improvement, but he's proven he can be a guy that can help us," said Lanning.

On Leadership He's Seen

"We finished off some conditioning, and normally the conditioning speaks for itself. Like it happens in practice, but a lot of times on Saturdays we'll add some additional conditioning because guys have a recovery day tomorrow. At the end, the guys are asking for more, right?"

"I think that's a great example of guys saying, 'Man, we just went through an entire scrimmage, my body's telling me no, right? But my, you know, my mind is telling me, yay, right?' You know the song, right? That's what these guys are doing. They're pushing for more, right? That's the other way around, obviously in the song, but but you get the idea."

Finding Which Players Can Execute

"Today is let's call stuff that we know our guys can execute, so we can figure out who's the guy that's best at blocking, who's the guy that's best at tackling, who's the guy the best at breaking tackles."

"But now what we will do is take what we have and figure out what fits our players best and then find the tweaks that we can add and remove. You know, with us being able to do a lot in the off season. These guys are light years ahead of what it used to look like, you know, four years ago, five years ago when I first got here, how much time you have to take advantage of. Those guys have taken advantage of it. So there's not a lot that gets thrown in this brand new."

"It's just a matter of, 'Okay, can I get in the right play. if we have a check on it? Is if we can I get in the right play with a certain tag that we might throw on a play on both sides of the ball, and then can I execute? So again, am I accountable and am I capable of doing that?"

Dylan Raiola's Performance

Fighting Ducks quarterback Dylan Raiola warms up during the Oregon Ducks annual spring game on April 25, 2026 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

"Yeah, Dylan's gotten a lot better. He looks like a night and day different player from when he got here in the spring, that being said, there's there's moments already I know from today that I'm like, okay, this is something we got to improve, right? So we have to attack."

"And that that's the case for every single player on our team, right? Not just Dylan, every single player has something that we can get better at and if we executed a higher level, we be performing really well."

Length of the Scrimmage

"It's around 120 place scrimmage, maybe a little bit more or less based on special teams plays as it plays out."

Special Teams Issues

"Small thing. we tested our guys today. We tried to kick a long field go. We didn't make a long field goal. We had some poor kicks on kick off that we have to be accounting those guys to have great kicks on kick off. Punt locations, you know, we had some balls that were out of balance," Lanning said.

"So in special teams you get one play to be right, right? And they have to be right. So they weren't all right today, and really, it's no different than how you want a great offense or defense. But they're just limited opportunities. You're talking about somewhere between 14 to 20 percent of the game. When we do it, has to look at a certain way. And I think that could level up."

On Generating Confidence

"I think they generate the confidence by them doing their job, and when it happens, you have to celebrate celebrate it, right? And I think so often in coaching a lot of times when we we point out the negative because that's the easy fix, but what we also have to do is point out when it's done right, and when it's done right, you have to celebrate it."

"Celebrate it like crazy and, you know, lean into those moments, right? Because that's going to give you an opportunity for a guy to reflect and say, okay, what can I still improve?"

On Trying to Avoid Injuries

"I mean in football you gotta play a certain way. Now to me there's a limit on, 'OK how much live tackling do I need scrimmage?' We weren't entire live tackling the entire scrimmage today, but there has to be some of that that occurs. And then there's a level of player that's played a certain number of snaps where there's an expectation of what that looks like, but you can't go out and tiptoe and football and say, 'Okay, we're going to be healthy,' because that's actually when guys are going to get hurt is when you kind of try to say, 'Oh, hey, keep yourself out of this pile,' you just can't do that."

"You have to play football the way it's meant to be played, but we do as good a job as anybody of protecting our players, our players do a great job protecting their teammates. know we don't take cheap shots across the middle. We're not looking for highlight hits and practice, right? We're looking for guys that hey, I see you, you see me who's win? Right? And there's a little bit difference than that than just hitting somebody when they don't see you."

Defensive Line Play

"We got to the quarterback a couple of times. I think at times that's on our quarterback to make sure that they're getting out of the pocket, so it's like double edged sword for me, right? If you get a sack, then you're excited about the defense, but upset about the offensive line or the timing of the quarterback had. But we've had good rush. We've done some different drill work this year that we haven't done it in the past. I think it's improved that."

"We have some different stuff schematically. We brought in Coach Rip (Rowan), and Coach T (Tuioti) and coach Kam (Araghi), all those guys are working really hand in hand with making sure that we got dynamic guys on the field that can impact the quarterback, but you also earn that opportunity by how you stop the run. So I'm seeing glimpses of that through fall camp, but we'll continue to look for that to improve."

Jalen Lott, Immanuel Iheanacho

"Yeah, so it's like 'Deer in the headlight looks' at times, and then some of it's like, 'Okay, that's why we brought them here, right?' So I think it's a combination of continuing to refine it for them, figure out what they're capable of doing and making sure we're ask them to do that, but I think there's some flashes that you really saw that we got the right guys on this team."

Jerry Mixon

"None of it's based on just today right? I've seen what Jerry's done throughout fall camp. I still would love to see and hear more of Jerry's voice. I think it it carries a lot of weight with the players. That being said, he stepped up in that role. He's done a good job."

"I don't want him to come be Bryce. I want him to be the best version of Jerry. Right? I want him to be the best version of him and again, I'll have to go back and watch the film. You can't watch 22 players at one time, but Jerry's had a good fall camp."

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