Oregon closing in on former Big Ten offensive coordinator, Texas assistant

New Oregon head coach Dan Lanning continues to aim high as he builds his staff, this time apparently looking at a young coach with over a decade of experience to lead a position group.

Per Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports, the Ducks are targeting Drew Mehringer as their next tight ends coach.

Mehringer, who turned 34 earlier this month, has already spent time at some of the nation’s top programs. He was a graduate assistant at Iowa State and Ohio State, an offensive coordinator at Rutgers, and a wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Texas, among others. This season, Mehringer was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at New Mexico.

He was named the national recruiter of the year by Rivals in 2019. Mehringer was at Texas that year, and they signed the No. 3 class in the nation according to the On3 Consensus Team Rankings. Five-star wideout Bru McCoy headlined the class, although he subsequently transferred to USC and has had a turbulent college career.

The Texas native played quarterback at Rice before an injury ended his career. He hails from Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium.

Ducks fall to Sooners in Alamo Bowl

Interim head coach Bryan McClendon suffered his first loss as an interim coach on Wednesday, as Oregon fell 47-32 to Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

The game looked ugly early, as the Sooners took a 30-3 lead into the locker room at the break. Oregon tried to mount a comeback, scoring a touchdown on their first four offensive drives of the second half. If Ducks fans are looking for some positivity, at least the team didn’t give up to close out what they would likely characterize as a disappointing season considering they were in the playoff race for the majority of the year.

In order to win the game, Oregon would need to run the ball well. Running back Travis Dye averaged 8.5 yards per carry with an explosive second half, but it was too little too late. Quarterback Anthony Brown went 27-for-40 with 306 yards, three touchdown passes and an interception. The performance fell just behind his best of the season yardage wise, a 307-yard outing against Colorado on Oct. 30.

The Ducks now turn their attention toward 2022, a season which opens against Lanning’s former team, Georgia, in Atlanta on Sept. 3. Oregon has a second interesting non-conference game next year, a Sept. 17 outing against BYU.