Dan Lanning reveals why it was important to involve famous alums in spring game

Spring college football games make for the perfect opportunity for former players to return to campus and take in the action. That was the case for Oregon on Saturday, as new head coach Dan Lanning invited plenty of Ducks’ alumni – highlighted by four honorary coaches – back to Eugene to be a part of the day’s festivities.

As Oregon played its annual Yellow vs. Green spring game Saturday, with quarterback Bo Nix and the Yellow team coming away with a 31-21 win, four primary Ducks’ players were in attendance and serving as the honorary coaches of the two teams: De’Anthony Thomas, LaMichael James, Arik Armstead and Haloti Ngata.

Following the spring game, Lanning met with the media and revealed why it was important for him to involve the famous alumni in the event.

“That was unreal,” Lanning said. “Getting to meet some legends like De’Anthony, LaMichael, Arik and Haloti was really fun. It was also fun to see them having some stress of calling the plays. That was exciting. I think De’Anthony was pretty pumped after his big-play score that he called, so he’s probably got it figured out and ready to start doing this thing.

“But having those guys back – so special and important to us. Those guys are, obviously, phenomenal Duck football players, but they’re better human beings. Just getting to spend time around them – they’re great representatives of what it means to be an Oregon Duck.”

With Oregon’s spring practice period officially in the books, Lanning and the Ducks now turn their attention to summer workouts before jumping into fall camp in August.

Lanning explains how his head coaching debut felt during Oregon’s spring game

In his postgame press conference, new Oregon head coach Dan Lanning expressed gratitude to those who came out to make his first experience one to remember.

“You could smell it out there today,” Lanning said. “There was a tailgate experience. The environment is something we played in pregame at our meeting today. We kind of showed them, ‘What’s a hostile environment? What’s it like to play here?’

“Our players got a chance to really experience that today. When we have over 42,000 fans, that’s pretty special for a spring game.”