Everything Oregon Quarterbacks Coach Koa Ka'ai Said After Spring Practice

EUGENE, Ore. – With former offensive coordinator Will Stein taking the head coaching job with the Kentucky Wildcats in the offseason, the Oregon Ducks shifted some things around on their coaching staff.

One of those moves was promoting Koa Ka’ai to the quarterback coaching role that Stein also formerly occupied. Ka’ai spoke to the media for the first time during the spring on Tuesday and provided his thoughts on everything from the quarterbacks in his room to his journey as a coach.

koa ka'ai oregon ducks quarterbacks dan lanning dante moore dylan raiola injury akili smith drew mehringer will stein eugene — Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, left, former Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti and former Oregon coach Rich Brooks talk before the game as the Fighting Ducks face off against Mighty Oregon in the Oregon Ducks spring game on April 26, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Everything Quarterbacks Coach Koa Ka’ai Said

His Journey from Playing to Coaching at Oregon:

“If you would have told me 15 years ago, I'd be back here coaching, I would have said you're crazy. It's been pretty surreal to be able to come back to my alma mater and coach," said Ka'ai.

“I was lucky enough to play for some great coaches back then, Chip Kelly, Mark Helfrich, along with the rest of that staff that had been there for so long. But I think now with coach Lanning, what he's done is pretty much just take that foundation, that blueprint that's been built over the decades here, and take it in and run with it, and the product of the field is what you see.”

“But it's been surreal. To see this place, I remember I joked with recruits all the time. When I was getting recruited, this used to be a parking lot. And this used to be the grass fields outside and share it with soccer and lacrosse. And the recruiting pitch back then in 2010 was like, ‘Hey, we're gonna build this really cool facility.’ And in ‘13, when they opened it, I was a player, it's like, ‘Okay, you guys follow through on that.’”

“Then you heard the murmurs when I was a player here, ‘If we're gonna build this, we're gonna build this. We're gonna do that.’ And to be back, like I said, and see the school just kind of come full circle and deliver on those promises that have been promised to recruits over the years. Been really cool to be a part of it.”

On Playing in the Trenches to Coaching Quarterbacks:

“I came here as a defensive end. After a year, I moved to tight end, and I played four years there, and then when I was done playing, I kind of was like, ‘What do I want to do with my life?’ And so, I moved back home to Hawaii, and I pretty much fell into coaching.”

“I was asked at the high school I went to to come help out. And so, I spent a year there coaching the tight ends. And then after that, I transitioned to another high school that my dad was a coach at. Was able to be a track coach there. I was a teacher.”

“I kind of was an OC called some plays and whatnot. And in 2020, I had an opportunity with Todd Graham. Then interviewed Hawaii for a GA spot. And so I went to Todd, I interviewed, and he said, ‘I have a defensive GA spot available.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure. I'll take it like, no big deal.’”

“And so, in ‘20 I was a defensive line GA, and the following season, I want to move you with the offensive line. And so, in ‘21 I was actually A’lique Terry’s GA in Hawaii. Got to work with A’lique. It was really cool. Then in ‘22 I was lucky enough to come out here and interview. It was the same process, and coach Lanning kind of was like, ‘Hey, I have a job for you. I don't know what position it's with.’ I was like, ‘Fine, that's cool.’ And so, my first year here, I was a running backs analyst.”

“And then after one year, Dan's like, ‘I want to move you with the receivers.’ Sure. I moved to receivers work for Junior Adams, and then the following year, Will was like, ‘I want to move you with quarterbacks.’ I've been with the quarterbacks now, going on three years.”

“It's very different than most coaches kind of process and their journey, but I think being able to have worked with all those different position groups, and having been lucky enough to spend some time on defense kind of gives me a unique perspective on the game, and it's more like a 30,000 foot view, if you will. And I'm appreciative of it.”

“I remember when I was young, I used to look on Wikipedia pages of kind of famous coaches, and I'd be like, ‘Well, how did this guy work with all these different position groups? How do I be lucky enough to do the same thing?’”

“And I was sitting here 10 years later after starting my coaching journey, it's been, once again, another surreal experience. I've had that opportunity to work with different position groups, and that's exactly what I wanted.”

How Much Easier Returning Quarterback Dante Moore Makes His Job:

“It makes a world of a difference. I think that whole room, in general, is pretty mature beyond its years. But especially with Dante, this being year three in the system, the things that we're able to get to, the things we're able to do, you don't really get that from a guy in year one.”

“He's seen it. Having been able to sit behind Dillon Gabriel and then having a year last year under his belt of a full season of starts, and now progressing here into his third spring. You can see his progression. And it's funny, sometimes we'll cut on the old tape from his first spring here, and it's like leaps and bounds different.”

“But it's definitely beneficial with a guy like that with so much experience, savvy as can be, very intelligent. It's fun to work with, and we're definitely blessed to have him in the room. We also have Brock (Thomas) is in year three in the system. Dylan's a very, extremely intelligent individual, and so, like I mentioned, I think that room is mature beyond its years, and very cerebral.”

How Quarterback Dylan Raiola Has Progressed Coming Off an Injury:

“Dylan's progressed well through the winter months. We're still kind of nursing that injury. Now he's full go. He is beyond cerebral. I've known him for a little bit. I've known his family for a little bit, and I've always knew he was smart, but he has really impressed me with his football knowledge.”

“I think because of that, he's been able to pick up this offense at a very quick rate. There's really not much that we have to hold back when he's out there and we're calling periods. He's pretty much in tune with everything we're trying to do, which is a lot. It is a high-volume offense, and I've just been extremely impressed with his intelligence.”

“Obviously, his playing ability speaks for itself. Everybody knows he can throw the football and has a bunch of wins under his belt from his previous stop. But I think his cerebral ability has really impressed me and the staff and has allowed us to kind of progress him at a quicker rate.”

What He Did Behind the Scenes in His Role Last Year:

“I'm very appreciative of the years I got to work with Will Stein. I learned a lot of stuff from him, just kind of the way he approached the job, the kind of way, the way he approached offense, and his perception of how the game plays. What did that look like? Me and Will would share responsibilities. I've run night meetings just at times. I've run corrections meetings.”

“Sometimes I've run install meetings, tips, and reminders during the course of a game week. There would be a meeting time every day that I meet with these guys, whether it be in the morning or the evening. Some one-off, one-on-one meetings as well, running some periods of practice here and there.”

“Because it's funny, a lot of guys, young guys – I could call plays. I could be a coordinator – until you're that close to those guys and you realize the breadth of like, what the responsibilities look like, it's hard to run a room and also be a really good coordinator.”

“And so, my job last year is pretty much take stress off Will’s plate wherever I could get in and fit in. Okay, ‘Hey, can you run this meeting for me? Can you do this for me? X, Y and Z.’ I just took those responsibilities. Try to do my best at it and progress forward.”

His Role in Quarterback Dante Moore’s Decision to Return to Oregon:

“I think in that whole process, everybody has their own role in it. What Dan's role in getting Dante to come back looked different from my role, looked different from Drew's role, so on and so forth. And I think with Dante, me and him really grew a closer personal relationship to the course of last season. We really shared some personal things about one another in private.”

“And so, my role in getting Dante to come back, and it was a collective effort here. It was everybody involved, and my role was just pretty much to be that person he could talk to and confide in. Whereas, like, I obviously wanted him to come back, but I wasn't going to push him one way or another. That wasn't my role in that decision.”

“But I could be a sounding board for him if he were willing to hear him out. And at times he would ask me, ‘What do you think?’ I’d give him my piece. But I really wasn't the one pushing that rhetoric. It was more so that, ‘Hey, I have a really good private relationship with this kid, and I'm going to be that sounding board.’”

“There's other agents in that decision process that were more the ones pushing it, ‘Hey, we can do X, Y and Z. This is the reason you should or shouldn't come back.’ But I mean, it was great, obviously, having him come back.”

“I love the kid to death. He's jovial. We just went golfing on Easter Sunday as a quarterback room, which is really cool. Like, how many rooms in the country are you going to golf collectively on Easter Sunday? But that's the kind of room we have, and it's really starts with him. So, we're lucky. Once again, we're lucky to get he came back.”

The Culture at Oregon That Allows Coaches to Move Up in the Ranks:

“I think that kind of starts with a look at Dan’s journey. It's ironic that me and him started our college coaching journey for the same guy in Todd Graham. But look at his story. He drove to Pittsburgh and sat in an office for a couple of days until Todd would meet with him just to get a GA spot.”

“When you think about Dan Lamming as a human, he's extremely driven, but he appreciates guys who have the same thought process and that same kind of grinder mentality.”

“So that he's created an environment here, whether it's for players, staff, the football staff, personnel staff, recruiting staff. If you come in, you're a selfless human, and you are about the grind, because you call a spade a spade, this profession is pretty tough hours wise but if you're committed to it and you're willing to do the work, he's willing to give you opportunities.”

“And I think, and I was lucky enough, like I said, I came in, I didn't know what role my role was going to be. I kind of just took it and ran with it. I guess I did a good enough job in those early on years that my roles behind the scenes continued to increase. And I think that opportunities are available to anybody in this program. He really has created that. Just look at the players on the field.”

“You don't have to mention names. But some guys who played last season. You might have not thought from the public perception they would have played, but those opportunities are afforded to them, just like the staff. And so I think Dan created a really healthy environment. There's not many like this out there.”

“I'm blessed that he could have hired anybody for this job. It's the quarterback job at Oregon. I'm not naive enough to think that he couldn't have gone and hired a big name. But I'm appreciative that he trusted in me, and he has that same trust and that same mindset of giving opportunities to people throughout this whole organization.”

Quarterback Akili Smith Jr.’s Development:

“I love KJ. It's funny, if you don't know, KJ, you think he's a really shy individual, but that kid is full of life. He's got all the intangibles. He's got the size, he's got the height, he's got the speed, he's got the arm strength, and he's progressed well.”

“I think you want to talk about which guys are probably the best arm talent in the room. KJ is probably the top of that. And he's progressing like the rest of those guys in that room.”

“I think for him, I think it's for any high school quarterback. When you come from high school, what are you usually running? Some type of spread system. Something that's pretty simplistic, and we're a little bit more NFL-esque here, which is beneficial for more guys, but that acclimation is kind of tough when you transition from high school to college.”

“You're not just playing against better players. Now the system's a little different, so I think he's acclimated well. We've definitely seen improvements this spring. I look forward to seeing what the rest of spring looks like for him and especially fall camp.”

How His Role Has Changed from Last Season:

“Some things have changed. Obviously, you're on the road recruiting now. But in regards to the day-to-day, a lot of that is similar. Like I said, me and Will, we’d just play off each other last season.”

“A lot of it's more on me now, but Jay Johnson that Dan brought in, I can't speak highly enough about Jay. I talked about an asset to have in that room, a guy who's coordinated at the Power Four levels at multiple stops, a guy who's coached quarterbacks for decades."

“Jay has been such an asset to not just the guys, but also to myself. Super appreciative of that. Obviously, we're super lucky to have him, but the day-to-day role is pretty similar. A few things have changed, but it's more or less a title change.”

The Transition to Coaching Quarterbacks as Someone Who Didn’t Play the Position:

“I think when you speak about the quarterback position, I've spent a lot of time in the past couple of offseasons working with people, learning the fundamental aspect of the position. Because, like you just mentioned, I didn't play it, so I don't really have that in-person experience.”

“But I spent a lot of time the last couple of offseasons learning the intricacies of the fundamental aspect. Beyond that, when you really start thinking about quarterback play, it's a very cognitive position. I would argue 80 percent of what they do is cognitive and cerebral. It's like, how do I streamline their thinking? How do I streamline their thought process?”

“I say this all the time, Drew Mehringer is the OC, Dante Moore is the trigger man. Drew's got this vision. Dante's the one on this on the field. What is my job? I'm the conduit between the two. How do I take Drew Mehringer’s vision, and how do I work with Dante Moore or all of our quarterbacks, and how they perceive the game? And how do I make that and help that vision come to life?”

“So, when you think about coaching the quarterback, yes, the fundamental aspect I've had to learn over the years. But the more football you understand, the more football you learn, a lot of it is training these guys minds, how to think and process. The more efficient you can make that, the better player they usually are.”

Traits He’s Looking for Recruiting Quarterbacks:

“You go to any seven-on-seven tournament, you'll probably find 100 kids who can throw the ball. Yeah, it's probably an outlandish number. But you're gonna find a lot of kids there who could throw the football. Because, why? There's no pass rush, okay, the game's not real. You're running these crazy coverages, running these crazy route concepts.”

“Nothing's real. You can find a bunch of kids who can throw the football. You cannot find a bunch of kids to play the quarterback position, in my opinion, because it comes down to the cognitive aspect.”

“You can go back through the years. Would anybody have taken Philip Rivers out of high school with his throwing motion? Probably not. Could a Peyton Manning throw a spiral consistently towards the end of his career? Probably not. But why were those guys such elite quarterbacks? It was the cognitive aspect of their game. It was a processing aspect.”

“So for me, yes, like, there are some semantics, and there are some things that you need to worry about with the throwing motion and whatnot. But like, really, how smart is a kid? What is his emotional intelligence? What is his football intelligence?”

“That is one of the top things that we look for here, especially with the way that we play football. It's more like I mentioned, NFL style. You have to be smart to play the position, and especially at this place. For me, a lot of it is getting to know these kids.”

“I ask them a question like this all the time, ‘Hey, do you like chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream?’ The minute a kid pauses, I don't really want that kid because you need to have some type of conviction, right, wrong or indifferent.”

“So whether you like chocolate or you like vanilla I don't really care. But if you sit there and say, ‘Ah, Coach, I don't know. Is it melted? Is it not? What's the brand? So on and so forth. Like, what is this kid gonna do on third down in front of 110,000? He’s probably gonna think about it more than he should. He's not gonna have conviction. So it's like I just said long winded, I understand, but it's the mental aspect. It's really what we’re after.”

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