What Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning Said at Pac-12 Media Day
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On Friday, Dan Lanning and 11 other Pac-12 coaches descended on Los Angeles for Pac-12 Media Day at the Novo Theater.
Oregon's head coach met with reporters and covered a variety of topics ahead of the 2022 season including the ongoing quarterback battle, the state of college football and facing Georgia to open the season.
Question: You spoke to growth there. What kind of growth have you seen at the quarterback position this off-season? How far into fall will it be a competition?Do you have a deadline?
Lanning: "Yeah, I'm really excited. Just at the end of the day you want to know you have quarterbacks in your program you think you can win with. I think we have multiple guys that can do that, with Bo, Ty and Jay, have all been extreme competitors.
"Probably more than anything I've been excited with their passion to improve. To be elite, to be a special player, you have to go above and beyond. All of those guys have really contributed in the success of what work they did this summer when people weren't watching, what it looked like when there weren't people standing on the field assessing their efforts. Those guys have put in a lot of extra work."
Question: "With the season opening, going against your former team, are all the players fired up? Not often teams get to open up against the reigning national champs. What is the vibe?"
Lanning: "Honestly, we haven't spent a ton of focus on game one. I know our players are certainly excited to be on a national stage early and get to play obviously an elite opponent in Georgia that we're really familiar with. Guess what, they're also familiar with me.
"That being said, we're really focused on right now. You can't play game one until you have practice one, right? That's our next approach."
Question: "Given the changes that are happening within the conference, within the sport itself, NIL, transfers, super conferences, how do you feel about the direction that the sport is headed?"
Lanning: "Yeah, it seems to be ever-changing, doesn't it? I've been asked a couple times what it's like being a first-year head coach in this environment. The one thing I'll say is it's probably pretty similar to being a 15-year head coach in this environment because it's different. It continues to change.
"I think what we do at the University of Oregon is we continue to put the focus of the players first. I certainly want to see our players maximize their opportunities, whether that be through name, image and likeness. I think we're positioned really well to be successful there. But we want to play elite competition. I trust George and our leadership in conference to continue to point us in the right direction there."
"But it's a fun ever-changing day. You always have to pay attention. There's usually a headline when you wake up in the morning. Fun to adapt and be on your toes. Certainly different to coach in."
Question: "How many conversations or how have you addressed the conference realignment stuff with USC and UCLA leaving? How often does that come up on the recruiting trail? Is that difficult to navigate?"
Lanning: "Yeah, I think it's certainly a conversation. Like I said, I trust our leadership to be positioned for success. Oregon has been always a premier team in college football. I think we'll continue to be.
"Our fans are extremely passionate. Being a top-10 team when it comes to views in homes this last year, the ability to compete for championships year in and year out with coaching changes and different things. That's still allowed Oregon to be at the forefront of competition.
"That will continue to be the case with our support outside of just the university, but also within the university."
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