Dan Lanning Provides Oregon Ducks Injury Update Before Orange Bowl

The No. 5 Oregon Ducks returned multiple players from injury during their first-round College Football Playoff win over the James Madison Dukes. While wide receivers Gary Bryant Jr. and Dakorien Moore returned to the field, Ducks fans left the game concerned about freshman running back Jordon Davison’s status going forward.

Davison was seen being helped to the locker room late in the fourth quarter against JMU. Coach Dan Lanning provided a positive update on the running back’s status during his Orange Bowl press conference. Lanning also talked about reintegrating players into the lineup following their return.

oregon ducks dan lanning jordon davison injury orange bowl dakorien moore gary bryant jmu texas tech raiders college football — Dec 20, 2025; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning looks on during the fourth quarter against the James Madison Dukes at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

What Dan Lanning Said

Jordon Davison Injury Update:

“Yeah, again, I think that he'll be in good shape for this next game.”

His Thoughts on Moore and Bryant’s Returns and Giving Redshirt Players Opportunities:

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“A lot of guys great to have some players back. I know (Moore) didn't have a million catches in that game, but he had some outstanding blocks in that game. Same thing with Gary. Was able to make an impact in that game. It's great to have those guys out there.”

“We see those guys as guys that are leaders for our team and do an unbelievable job, and even though they're limited a little bit in practice, the role can grow for them because of their health and then getting back and getting healthy.

“I'm really proud of Matt Johnson and Gavin (Nix) as well. Those are guys that have been bounced back and forth between giving us looks and then being guys that are in the rotation to be able to play for us. For courtesy to them, we felt like they could have certainly played more snaps this season.”

“But close being close enough to where, how big of a role is that we give them an opportunity to redshirt, we thought that was in the best interest of them as players, but they're guys that can definitely be out there on the field helping us, and they were able to do that on Saturday and continue to see their role growing as the season goes on for us.”

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How Moore and Bryant’s Return Help the Other Wide Receivers:

“Just the variety that you're able to carry. And I think it's anytime you have the weapons that we have, it's really hard when sometimes we play a team, you're like, ‘Okay, if we can take away this wideout, we take away his strength. We can roll coverage to this guy.’”

“It's really difficult against a team like us, with what we have at tight end, we have a wideout, with what we have it back, and the ability to run the ball the way we’ve been able to do it, having a quarterback that can throw it anywhere and everywhere. All those things are really added up. So, strength in numbers is something that's paid off for us all season, and now having those guys back and fresh. It definitely gives us the ability to attack people in different ways.”

How Dante Moore’s Grown Since the Indiana Game:

“I think the biggest piece is just experience, man, like getting more reps and more opportunity more time, like our quarterback is not the same quarterback when he started the season. And his decision-making process – I know there's a couple that didn't go his way the other night – but ultimately, you see a guy's gotten better and better each week.”

“His understanding, knowing how to solve problems, right? He knows that, right? He knows how to solve problems within our offense. He can check to a lot of things himself that allow us to have success.”

“And I think he's proven he can make every throw, and he's got a lot of weapons that he can use. And that's probably the biggest piece that makes Dante different, is every route's alive on every play. Anybody can get the ball on every play. That's not always the case in every offense.”

If Having Less Time Off Than Their Opponent Is An Advantage:

“I don't know if there's a side advantage. I think it's just more of an indicator that we do playoffs and college football is messed up, right? I mean, in my opinion, we're really excited to be going to the Orange Bowl, but this game should be played at Texas Tech, the higher-seeded team. "

"We should play a week like right after the last game. The next playoff game should be the next Saturday, the next playoff game should be the next Saturday, the next playoff game should be the next Saturday and the championship game.”

“But we're trying to fit a lot of things in different sequence. But my opinion, this game should be played at Tech. There should be a home field advantage for them, but I know their fans will travel, our fans will travel, and we're really excited to be playing in the Orange Bowl. So, I could talk about what ifs and all those pieces.”

“There’s definitely a skill and an art to making sure that your team's prepared when you have long breaks. And I think that was clear last year, certainly will be clear now. You got a little bit more time to prepare for this game, but a little bit different than the last one. And that's the other part that doesn't make really a lot of sense is the sequence of days in between each game and each playoff, there’s just not really a rhythm.”

“And for us as a coach, it's about how do you create that rhythm? How do you challenge yourself to say, okay, how can we keep things the same as much as possible for our players? And it's tough when you have big gaps and big great breaks like that. But I don't know that it's a sided advantage for one team or the other. You're dealing with different issues.”

Teitum Tuioti’s Development:

“Teitum Tuioti does not get enough credit. I don't know if everybody in college football recognizes what kind of player recognizes what kind of player we have in Teitum. He's gotten better every single year. He's disruptive. He's a player impact guy. Plays the run extremely well, rushes the passer well.”

“There's a lot of things that Teitum does really well. He's a really smart player. Obviously, he's Tony's kid, so he's grown up in it his entire life. But you see a guy that executes at a really high level makes an impact in every game for us. I mean, you just said it, like it's not easy to go get a TFL in every game. And it's not like we're calling every play for him to go make a TFL every single snap, either. So, for him to make that impact, that's really credit to him and being a great finisher.”

How Joey McGuire Utilized the Transfer Portal and NIL to Build His Roster:

“He's built a great roster. And college football's about adapting. This is obviously a purpose, and an unbelievable job adapting and saying, ‘Okay, let's, let's make our team the best they can possibly be.’ And they've done that this year, so they deserve credit for that, because you have to evaluate.”

“There's a lot of teams that take people out of the portal, right? There's not a lot of teams necessarily that always have success. It's about evaluating that talent, getting them to play together, and creating a team that does that. This is a team that's done that.”

Where He’s Seen Talent Level Growth Since the Last Time They Played Texas Tech:

“I think both rosters are considerably different, right? We look a lot different now than we did then. We had a good, a really good team then, but I think we have depth is a little bit different now in comparison. And certainly, they have a really good front, like I said, they've got some really good pieces to the puzzle. And I think it takes a special person to be able to take all the people from different spots and create that team culture that they clearly have.”

What Makes Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez Special:

“Super instinctual, really aggressive. And it's not necessarily just aggressive with like them blitzing him. It's his ability to find ways to get to the ball, and then when he gets to the ball, he has the intention to get the ball out every snap. He takes shots at the ball consistently.”

“Obviously, in the Big 12 championship game, you see their other linebackers show up, making interceptions. They just play really well as a unit. And he's certainly a guy that brings that same juice for them. You see the whole defense play with that mindset, and I think he's where it starts.”

What Allows Rodriguez to Have Success:

“A little bit of what I said about him already. The ability to play with great instincts. He's a very instinctual player. I think that they do a great job closing zones and closing pictures for those guys in the back end, they attack the ball. Obviously, when you're up for the Heisman, there's a reason, right?”

“And he's been that guy. He consistently attacks the ball. That's the one thing that really stands out on film is the way he runs the ball and the way he attacks the ball. When he's tackling people, he's not just trying to trying to tackle, he's trying not to ball loose.”

Linebacker David Bailey’s Increased Success:

“I mean, he's certainly improved, right? He's a player that's gotten better. But again, I think the misconception here is that these guys are really good at rushing the passer, and they're not disruptive in the run game. And these guys are both. They're one of the best run defenses in the nation.”

“But that's something you heard early in the season about, ‘Oh, these guys can rush the passer, can they stop the run?’ Like these guys can stop the run as well. They strike blocks. You know, both edges, like I said, are really, really strong players. Do a great job. Obviously, end up in the backfield a ton, and when they do get the opportunity to rush, they take advantage of it.”

What Makes Behren Morton a Good Quarterback:

“Again, they operate extremely fast. And he makes great decisions. He's a guy that can make throws necessary. He's got great weapons. I think he understands that. ‘When I'm throwing it to these guys’ – they’ve got tight ends that can catch the ball. They have running backs to catch the ball in the backfield.”

“They got really big wideouts, outside slot receivers. They throw screen game extremely well. They attack down the field. You don't have the amount of explosive plays they've had this season, right? Without having a good operator at quarterback. And he's been a great operator and done a great job there.”

What the Preparation Looks Like with the Holidays:

“There's not really that opportunity. And our players bought into that when we hopped in the playoff mode that hey, we're going to kind of take our break now at the beginning, and I think it was a good reset for them. But we'll be working. They'll get some time just right around Christmas, and we'll get some time to fellowship with each other. But beyond that, it's going to be really intent and focused on Texas Tech.”

What Stands Out About Their Pass Protection:

“Again, they generate a ton of negatives, and a lot of it comes from rushing coverage, rushing the four guys up front and letting the guys in the back-end cover, and they do an outstanding job of that. They've got an arsenal of pass rush moves that you see show up, especially on the edges. Those guys are a matchup issue. They do a really good job, so we'll have to do a great job of protecting the quarterback and making good decisions there.”

If He Uses the Stakes of a Game to Fire Up Certain Players:

“I think ultimately, the players understand the stakes of this game, right? It means a ton to them, so it's probably more on the other end of, okay, let's focus on consistency, of what's got us to where we're at this point, and how do we attack the things that we have to improve on. But everybody knows the stakes. These are moments that you're excited to get to go be a part of. And these guys have earned it, but they've earned it with being consistent.”

How He Assesses Tosh Lupoi and Will Stein’s Ability to Manage Two Jobs:

“Their focus has been incredible with everything that they're dealing with and there's a lot, and it's a real challenge. Again, I've experienced it myself, so I know what that looks like, but they've done an unbelievable job being able to attack, put in the same amount of effort and work, and there's just not more hours in the day.”

“So you're working outside of those hours, you're not getting a lot of sleep, and that's the part you hope that we're all getting enough sleep that we can be effective when we go out there. But the focus, the attention to detail, like that, hasn't changed. It wouldn't look any different if we went week five in the season or week six, like the intent and the focus that these guys have put on their game prep is really good.”

What Stands Out From the Defense’s Performance Against JMU:

“I won't really get into detail, just because there's things that we can definitely attack, that we can do better. My biggest piece is just getting off the field. Right? We had some sustained drives in that game, and we gave up more explosive plays in that game than we have in the past. So, figuring out ways to limit those and get off the field.”

The Opportunities to Learn From Other Elite Coaching Staffs:

“When you watch film, you're always learning. That's one thing that's exciting about playoff football is you start saying, ‘Okay, that's a really good play.’ There's games that came from our game this past Saturday where I'm saying, ‘Okay, how can we challenge ourselves to do some of the things that these teams are doing?’ But you really focus more than anything on your own team, but there's just an admiration and respect for teams that are doing it at a high level, and Texas Tech certainly one of those teams.”

The Unique Matchup Between Oregon Coach Cutter Leftwich and Texas Tech Coach Mack Leftwich:

“Obviously, a special, unique matchup with Mack being the offensive coordinator over there. Spencer (Leftwich), I was a GA. Spencer is our offensive line coach at Pitt. And as much as I'd like to say that’s credit to Cutter being here, as much as that’s Will's relationship with Cutter, working with him at UTSA. It allows people to link up again down the road.”

“When I first met Cutter, he was a young kid. Now, he's a really good football coach, and I remember Mack playing high school football, being a quarterback there in PA, being a really, really good players. So, it's unique that you get an opportunity to go against them. So, a little bit of a house divided there. But two outstanding coaches.”

“Obviously, Mack, what he's been able to do there at Texas Tech, and before that, Texas State Incarnate Word, speaks for itself. He's had a lot of success. One of the most dynamic offenses in the country. And we got the bigger Leftwich on our side with Cutter and he's done an unbelievable job for us. I'm really excited about him and his opportunities in front of him.”

His Description of Texas Tech’s Run Game:

“One, yards after contacts stands out right away. 20 obviously does a great job of stop and go. I think they have a really good balance attack with both those guys. Inside runner, eight, runs extremely hard, breaks a lot of tackles. They both have great top end speed, so it shows up. And I think again, the part that’s probably not credited enough is the amount of receptions out of the backfield.”

“I think they've got 54 receptions out of the backfield between the two of them. And that's another place where quarterback does a great job of getting down to check downs when the vertical shots aren't there, or in the screen game or easy throws on the perimeter, but they break tackles. They run extremely well. They run really hard, they break a lot of break a lot of tackles and create extra yards after contact.”

On Outside Noise Criticizing Texas Tech’s Conference:

“Well, one good football is good football. I've kind of always said that here is regardless of what conference you're in, are you playing a high level of ball? And these guys play a really high level of football, right? And they've not just played opponents, they've dominated opponents, right?”

“And to dominate the way that they've dominated speaks volumes about what kind of team this is. So, there's a ton of respect for them because they've got the winning formula. They protect the ball. They attack the ball on defense, right? They create explosives on offense. They prevent explosives on defense. They play really good special teams play. I think all those things show up, and you say, what's a good football team? Like, those are the attributes. They have those attributes.”

His Past Pursuit of a GA at Texas Tech:

“I've told it several times, but yeah, I was anxious to get into college football, and coach Patterson gave me my first opportunity. I actually talked to him again last week and congratulated him on his success there at Abilene and the job he's done. But ultimately, waited in the lobby until I got an opportunity. And that's what that's what I wanted, was just an opportunity to be able to coach college football, and Keith’s the guy that gave me that opportunity, so forever grateful for him.”