WATCH: Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning Gives Final Updates Before Facing BYU Cougars
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Dan Lanning met with reporters after Wednesday’s practice to give his final remarks and updates before this Saturday's game against No. 12 BYU, along with how this team has developed so far three weeks into the season.
Opening statement: “Alright good day today, again third down, red area of focus has definitely been a big point of improvement for us on both sides of the ball. Got some good special teams work, ready to go play a good opponent.”
Question: You mentioned special teams is Andrew Boyle going to be able to give it a go?
Lanning: “Yeah he was able to practice today, I think we’ll be able to utilize ourselves at full strength”
READ MORE: How to Watch Oregon Ducks vs. BYU Cougars
Question: "Chase Roberts really had a huge game for them this past game against a really good defense, true freshman out there, what makes him a viable target?"
Lanning: “Yeah, I mean just in general I think they’re a team that can play with their right hand or their left hand. If you take away the run, they’ll be able to throw the ball, you take away the pass they’ll be able to run the ball. They do a good job playing off of that, obviously he’s really talented and they do a good job of getting it to him.”
Question: "How do you feel like Justin Flowe and Noah Sewell have progressed through two games this season and just their importance in this BYU game?"
Lanning: “All of our linebackers have a big role in this game. We want to see them go have a lot of success. It changes the way you play as a linebacker based on how you're being attacked and the way we’ve been attacked is out in the open field. We gotta make more open field tackles so wherever the ball's at that’s where we want those guys at.”
Question: "You guys have worked a lot on open field tackling the last two weeks. How do you feel like your team improved overall in that area?"
Lanning: “Yeah, when you when you focus on something that's a weakness and try to make it a strength. I think you get better at it. You know, we did a sideline tackle drill today that we struggled at at times, but that's probably the toughest tackle in football. So we got to work it and our guys embrace the work.”
Question: "At the other cornerback spot what have you made of Dontae (Manning), Trikweze's (Bridges) and some of the other guys play so far?"
Lanning: “I think just in general, in our entire defense, we're looking for opportunities to continue to improve. I thought the second game was better than the first one, but we saw stuff that we can get better at as a unit there in the secondary and in the front seven, every piece of us. Not just at one corner spot, right. Christian Gonzalez has stuff that he can go get better at too. So, every one of our guys has a plan for improvement. We've seen some of that growth from game one to game two. We're gonna face a really good opponent this week. So, we're gonna find out where we're at."
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Question: "With the redshirt rule at four games, do you ever make definitive statements to your players about using it or is it an ongoing dialogue throughout the year about what the plan might be?"
Lanning: “Honestly, you know, our plan is how can we best develop our players and how can we best win games? And I think that conversation continues to change throughout the year based on your health as a team, based on people's performance to think that any of the guys that just got here for us are gonna be the same players ten games from now is a complete disservice to them and our program from a development standpoint. I've been around programs a long time where a guy that wasn't necessarily involved game one was super involved in ten. To make decisions about red shirting, not red shirting based on today, comparative to what's going on in November December, I think is really premature.”
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