Although the Oregon Ducks fall camp doesn’t start until Friday, one can say the offseason is officially over with the annual media day.
Head coach Dan Lanning sat at a podium and answered many, many questions that were put to him as he prepares for his first fall camp as an Oregon Duck. It’s also the first fall camp where Lanning is at the helm of a major college program.
Lanning was hired in December and has been on the go ever since. He has been seen at multiple Oregon sporting events and has experienced some of the sites Oregon has to offer. But it was this past summer when he fell in love with the state, he says.
“Over the summer, we had a chance to explore the state of Oregon, Lanning said. Whether it’s going down to Grants Pass or seeing the coast for the first time and we took out coaching staff and big pieces of our team.”
That exploration is over and now the Ducks have to explore ways of shocking the world to defeat the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs. Oregon meets the Dawgs in Atlanta on Sept. 3, which is a month way. Lanning says besides having fun in places such as Sisters and white water rafting in the Dechutes River, the players have worked hard this summer because they know what kind of challenge Game 1 will present.
“We’ve discussed it briefly. We know the competition at hand,” said quarterback Bo Nix. “We haven’t discussed the atmosphere even though it will be probably 85-15 Georgia because it’s in Atlanta and in their state. But that’s kind of an advantage for us. We can treat it like it’s an away game. We’re going to be prepared. We’re going to be exciting and ready to roll. The most important thing we can do is to compete and have fun. With the skill set we can present, if we can compete, it’s going to be really good.”