Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's first spring practice Thursday
Oregon opened spring practice Thursday with the first of two sessions (along with Saturday) before the Ducks part for an extended spring break.
Coach Dan Lanning talked about what he hopes to get out of these two early practices, touched on some of the offseason coaching moves within the staff, some new transfer additions and more.
Scroll down for a full transcript of his comments and watch the full interview here along with sights and sounds from practice:
Opening comments ...
"Good Day 1. You know, there's always great energy the first day of practice, right? But there's a lot to clean up. We want to go attack technique. It's good to see some young guys out there picking it up. These walk-throughs that we've been able to have leading up to spring ball really gives us that opportunity to take a step forward and get ahead. We'll have meetings following practice and able to attack some of that as well with our players."
Are you guys practicing with the in-helmet communication technology?
"Yeah, we were sent a couple by the office -- we're using them and moving them around player to player on certain days."
On defense, anyone besides Jeffrey Bassa who will be one to wear it?
"We're going to train everybody to be able to use those, primarily in the linebacker room."
What's the benefit of having two practices then taking a couple weeks off and coming back to spring ball?
"You know, I don't know that there's a lot of huge benefit because there's going to be a little bit of a period there that puts us behind, but there's going to be some guys who are able to join us here post that first term that will give us a chance to get those guys involved. Certainly, it lengthens that spring window so you get a little bit more time in between to study what you've done well and what you can improve on."
How did you feel the many newcomers did today?
"Yeah, I thought there was good, there was bad, right? The biggest thing, you saw energy and you saw guys moving from drill to drill with purpose. There was mistakes made, which there's going to be. It's about fixing those."
Does Faaope Laloulu move to a student-assistant role?
"He's moving to a student-assistant role."
How do you measure success moving from Day 1 to Day 2?
"I think effort and technique, right? And then are you making the same mistakes you made Day 1. We've got to eliminate those and go forward, but it's just about constant improvement, constant growth. You can't eat an elephant in one bite, right? It takes one day at a time, a little bit better each day."
Is Noah Whittington back to full strength?
"We're being conscientious of where he's at. They're doing a really good job in the treatment program, he's way ahead of schedule, has done a really good job there, but we'll be conscientious through that this spring."
Do you expect Jahlil Florence to do anything this spring?
"Really the same thing. We'll have these guys do what they can do but be smart in the same process."
What went into the various decisions of promoting coaches from within to fill roles on staff?
"We've got a lot of really good coaches within this staff, and it's about growing guys within the staff and giving them opportunities when they've proven they deserve it. Whether it's [Chris Hampton] taking a bigger role there in the secondary or Rashad Wadood stepping up to do more with the corners, Brian [Michalowski] has been a guy whose proven his value last season and a guy that we want to get more involved as well. In our organization, it's about continuity, it's about growing within, building guys that can fill those roles and do a good job."
Do you still have a few spots in strength and conditioning or recruiting you're looking to fill?
"We're always looking for how we can improve our program and what ways we can add elements to our program to make us better. That doesn't necessarily mean we have positions we're still filling."
What about Brian Michalowski made him a good fit to coach the inside linebackers?
"I've just known Brian for a very long time. I worked with him at Memphis, I worked with him at Arizona State, I worked with him at Georgia, so he's a guy that I have a lot of familiarity with and his knowledge of the game, his understanding of how we want to be able to accomplish things here at the University of Oregon, he was a big help last year in the role he did last year so looking for him to take a step forward in the role he does this year."
What have you seen from RB transfer Jay Harris?
"Yeah, it's hard right now, we're wearing spiders and helmets, so I think that's going to show up more when we get into the Sled tempos. But obviously he is a big back and that's going to be an element we want to take advantage of when we get out there in pads."
How did you find a D2 running back?
"We're just keeping our ears and eyes open, right? He's from a state that I'm familiar with, Missouri and had some connections back in St. Louis of guys that we knew and then really able to put the pieces together and let him know that we felt he fit a need for us and we could help him."
The interior defensive line loses a lot of experience, what are you hoping to see from the young guys this spring?
"Yeah, see them grow up fast. I always say, if you're good enough you're old enough. We want to see these guys be able to attack it and not have a plan to wait but have a plan to go play."
What about the secondary?
"You don't want to take a step backwards -- you want to take a step forward. So we're not looking to plateau or dip -- we're looking to elevate, and that starts with great technique and communication, those guys understanding what we're trying to accomplish. We've got a lot of guys out there. This is the first spring I've felt we could truly two-spot practice and have enough bodies that we can work multiple fields, multiple drills at the same time and take advantage of it."
On transfer players that aren't here yet and whether they might arrive in April ...
"When I'm able to talk about players that are here I'll be able to talk about all those guys that are here, and certainly there's going to be some guys that will be joining us that we can visit about when they get here."
What about some of the signees who aren't here yet?
"Same thing. We'll get them here as soon as we can get them here. You guys will see them when they're here, but we're getting those guys transitioned ready to roll."
With DL transfer Jamaree Caldwell, what did you see from him on tape and what makes him a good fit for this sytem?
"Yeah, great, explosive power and speed really for his size. He's a dominant guy that ends up in the backfield a lot of times, so it's just going to create havoc for the opposing team. So it will be exciting to see what he brings. He's done a good job hopping in, he's learned a lot -- we're asking him to do more than he did before and that's been a good transition for him."
In preparing for the Big Ten, how does that impact the spring practice plan?
"No, it really doesn't change our approach. Right now, it's about Oregon getting better and the things we think are winning football are things we're going to work on -- it really doesn't matter what conference we're in."
How have you seen Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore step into the quarterback role in replacing Bo Nix?
"They've jumped in the water all in, they didn't dip their toe in. So these guys are picking it up quick. Again, these walkthroughs and meetings have been something that have given them an advantage to pick it up. A lot of growth from today that we've got to see moving forward, but excited about the way those guys work."
Early signing day moved up to early December, do you like that?
"I just adapt to whatever the rules become. I think there's benefits to rule changes, and I think there's also consequences that come with rule changes. There's a great chance that the team's preparing for a conference championship and they're signing players at the same time. You know, we'll see how it all plays out, but we'll certainly adapt to it well."
They're discussing changing the playoff format that hasn't even started yet, what are your thoughts?
"Yeah, I'm worried about what's next for us."