Fall camp is over in one week.

That's how close the college football season is, and then it's time for actual game-planning for an opponent, and in Oregon's case, that will be Boise State for a Sept. 5 tilt inside Autzen Stadium.

For that game and for the season as a whole, the Ducks held their second scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. Although the scrimmage was closed to the media, head coach Dan Lanning talked to the press after his team had a productive scrimmage.

He touched on a variety of subjects, including grading his team, what the offensive line may look like, and NFL players returning for a fifth season. Although that was probably the last thing Lanning wanted to talk about, he wasn't shy with his opinions on the issue.

Typically, the coach would rather talk about the team he has in front of him and their prospects for the upcoming 2026 season. There's a ton of excitement surrounding this version of Duck football as they pursue their first-ever national title, which seems to be within reach like never before.

Here's everything Lanning had to say after the second scrimmage.

Opening Statement

Good scrimmage today, some good works. It'll be the last time that we really get a lot of live tackling in practice before we get to a game. Ultimately, guys came out relatively healthy. So I felt like they did a good job of that, some really good examples of protecting their teammates and not taking shots that were unnecessary. I'd say last scrimmage, I'd say the offense got the better of the defense. I'd say today the defense got the better of the offense. Had some good drives, put together some rhythm, but didn't capitalize, able to finish on those drives. You know, there's some takeaways today. The kicking game was much better today. You know, Rocco did a good job. He was four for four. Gage did a good job. We had good kick locations from our punters. But overall, really good compete and something to build off of once we watch the film.

Figuring out the O-line

Question: As this camp has gone on and you've had more opportunities to see them in live reps, how have you seen the offensive line's development and, you know, starting to identify those guys?

Dan Lanning: Yeah, there's some that have made it more clear with the way that they compete and their consistency,and then there's some that are still continuing to figure out who's the best version of them out there. So I think that we need those continued reps. I don't think there's any clear decisions, especially without watching the film, on these are the first five or these are the guys that are going to be able to rotate in. We still got to watch that film and assess it. Plenty of time to figure that out.

More O-line

Q: You kind of just touched on it a little bit there, but when do you kind of make that transition of, like in spring ball, you just throw guys in groups and it's all mished up of experienced new guys. When do you start kind of going, hey, we think these are maybe the eight guys in play to play along the offensive line for this season? When do you start making that kind of decision?

DL: I think we've already done that. We already have a clear picture of what that looks like. When it becomes more defined and when it's very clear, it's when it makes it easy. But I wouldn't say it's to that point yet.

Special teams becoming special

Q: You mentioned special teams being better this week. How did you see the guys just kind of attack this week to kind of have a better product during the scrimmage after maybe not disappointing?

DL: Well, they had harder kicks last week too. I mean, we were taking some long shots, but we had, you know, what, three kicks over 50 today. You know, so I think that was a positive. And then just, you know, kick locations, like I said, with punt were better. Our kickoffs, you know, last week we hit one out of bounds. I don't think it's anything that these guys are doing different. Maybe it's a level of focus when they're out there.

Perich leading the way

Q: Obviously bringing in Koi Perich, you expect him to be one of the guys that leads this defense. I'm curious how that has transpired over the last couple weeks and what you're starting to see from him. 

DL: Yeah, I really heard his voice out there today. He's been physical since the day he got here. There's some things that he's attacked and improved, but today is one of those days that I definitely felt his presence out there in the field, whether that be as a communicator or the way that he finished plays. And again, I'm still going to watch the film. I'm sure there's some things for him to clean up, but he's been a really pleasant surprise for us.

Linebacker development

Q: Speaking of communication, how have Jerry (Mixon) and Devon (Jackson) really stepped up in the middle there too at inside linebacker?

DL: Yeah, they've done a good job, you know, and I think that's one of those positions where we have, you know, multiple guys that are playing above the line football there that can help us, and, you know, those two included.

Moore chemistry with Stewart

Q: Plenty of different targets for Dante (Moore), you know, this season, but one that he's probably building more of a rapport with this fall is Evan Stewart, and he was someone you were excited about at the start of camp. How have these last couple weeks been for him?

DL: Yeah, he's had really good camp. He's played really well. I don't think he got quite as many targets today, but he came up with a really big play in our game on the line period there at the end. I mean, he's done a really good job, and obviously those guys have a unique connection.

Game planning

Q: With two weeks left until the regular season, just curious, is game planning starting next week, or what's the future look like for these last two weeks of football camp?

DL: Yeah, towards the end of next week, we'll kind of hop into some game planning. We've already done some initial game plan stuff that you do in the summer, but we'll have some normal practices throughout this week. It's still going to be more about Oregon than anybody else. And then, obviously, once we get into the game week, it'll transition to our opponent. 

Knocking off the rust

Q: What's the process and, I guess, the difficulty of getting a guy like Evan (Stewart) and Gatlin (Bair), two guys who haven't played a football game in over a year? (Getting) that rust off and getting them ready to go for the first week. What's that process been like? 

DL: Yeah, making practice as much as possible like a game, right? Recreating those moments. And today was like that. We split into a, you know, combat group, a fighting ducks group. We had teams, you know, special teams operated as if it was a game. So a lot of that operation today was to help create that. So those guys have had a lot of snaps in practice and those have to qualify.

Dominating D

Q: Obviously you have to watch the film, but, you know, seeing that. You thought the defense was a little, you know, more dominant today than it was in the prior scrimmage. What were some of the maybe examples of that that stood out to you the most? 

DL: Yeah, third down stops, red area stops. I thought they attacked the ball well. You know, there were some balls that we were able to get out, you know, and again, I said that last time, they've done a really good job of attacking the ball,but those are the things that kind of stuck out to me. I think we still got to get better against the run based on what I saw today, but again, I have to watch the film to assess it.

Trent Ferguson

Q: One of the local guys along the offensive line, Trent Ferguson, had sort of a unique journey in football. I'm wondering if you can speak to the process of obviously identifying him and then eventually getting here.

DL: Yeah, maybe the first film I saw was him playing lacrosse, which is, you know, interesting because he's a huge guy. But I'll say this, Trent has an unbelievable work ethic. He puts in the time. He spends a lot of effort. And he's one of those guys that's been big for a long time and now has really grown into his body. He can move people up front. He's had a good fall camp.

From college to the NFL and back?

Q: Your thoughts just on guys coming from the NFL back to college. I know you guys aren't really interested in the five for five, but just the state of college athletics right now from every sport just seems like who's eligible. You don't really know. What are your feelings on that?

DL: I think there's a lot of negatives. that are involved around this. One, once you go to the NFL, to me, you're in the NFL. You don't get the opportunity to come back. Two, most of us have built our rosters, and you have a limited roster limit now. So if you invited somebody back to your team, that means you're kicking somebody else off your team to match your roster limits. I don't think that's fair to the players that worked all summer, all spring, and put themselves in position to be ready to work for a team. You know, to have somebody come back.

But ultimately, you know, it use to be once you had an agent or once you went and did the combine or once you went to many. I mean, all those things qualified as you are no longer an amateur. You're a professional now once you declare for the draft. So to let any of those players come back, you know, fair or unfair to them, it's unfair to the sport. And I think it's unfair to the players that are on current teams, you know, for those guys to be coming back.

Grades and more grades

Q: You mentioned the first scrimmage, you were grading it based on accountability and capability. I'm curious, you mentioned that this might be the last time you guys see tackling before an in-game experience. Do you measure, do you grade this scrimmage differently than you graded scrimmage one, especially with it being the last time you're going to see tackling?

DL: It'll be graded the same way. No change there. And we'll still have some tackling drills and things that we do. You have to do that every single day in practice. But as far as tackling guys to the ground, there's something to be said for who can get guys down, who can break tackles. And in moments like this, I think that shows up a little bit more. But it'll be graded very similar to how we graded the first scrimmage.

Offensive line vs defensive line

Q: Does the quality and the experience on that defensive line make it harder to evaluate young offensive linemen or perhaps guys working their way into the offensive line rotation, or does it make it easier because you're seeing who can hang with those guys?

DL: Yeah, I think it makes it clear, you know, what's the standard is. And it doesn't matter who lines up against us. We're going to go against some really good D-lines this year. And we want it to be harder in practice than it is in the game. So if that's a challenge, that's a positive. And then there's an expectation for what the D-line should look like playing in and play out if they are what they say they are. 

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's second scrimmage