Dan Lanning after first practice: We're nowhere near where we need to be

The first practice of the Dan Lanning Era at Oregon is in the books. Afterward, the new Ducks coach offered a blunt assessment of where his team is at as training camp gets going.

“Good first day. Nowhere near where we need to be for game one,” Lanning said. “But luckily, we’re not playing game one yet. A lot of work to do.

“The guys brought good energy. Definitely embracing the strain and the opportunity to get better. One percent’s what we’re looking for in each and everything that we do. So where can we find those percentage points to get a little bit better?”

Lanning inherits an Oregon team that won the Pac-12 North last season, but fell to Utah in the league championship game. After Mario Cristobal departed to take the Miami job, Lanning helped bring in the No. 12 recruiting class in the country, according to the 2022 On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking. He also got to work in the transfer portal, notably bringing in quarterback Bo Nix — the No. 36 transfer to hit the portal, according to the 2021 On3 Transfer Portal Rankings.

With so many new faces — coupled with the layoff from the offseason — Lanning said he knows his team isn’t ready for game play yet. It’s all about building up to that point.

“It was [a] day one practice,” Lanning said. “It’s a level of toughness, it’s a level of effort, it’s a level of finish. If you don’t practice football every day, there’s some of those things that go away, right? You’ve got to train them. You’ve got to train those habits and it’s got to be harder right now than it is in the game.

“You don’t get that just by working out in the weight room. It’s just not the same. I’m pleased where our guys were, but we’re not ready to play a game. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Dan Lanning: ‘Speed’s certainly a great asset for us’

Lanning spoke about the importance of speed in Oregon’s game, which is also part of the build-up process. He said the speed level tapered off as practice went on, but recovery is the key as things get rolling.

“Our guys looked fast,” Lanning said. “I’ll say around period eight, we looked slow. It’s learning how to play fast consistently over time. We’ve got to continue to do that and do a great job in recovery. Speed’s certainly a great asset for us.”

That said, Lanning said his group still has a ways to go to get in shape. When asked how long it takes to get into “football shape,” he put a number on it while reaffirming it takes time.

“We’re still about 20 practices away,” Lanning said. “Not there yet. We’ve got plenty of work to do. Today was a good first day. We’ve got a stacked day on top of another day on top of another day. So 24-hour wins.”