Report: Oregon staffer hospitalized due to heart-related emergency
Oregon football’s director of player personnel Don Johnson suffered a heart-related medical emergency on Monday, according to The Oregonian’s John Canzano. The report says that the incident occurred during a coaches’ meeting on campus.
Johnson remains hospitalized on Wednesday after being transported to Portland, Oregon on Tuesday for further treatment. Before joining the Oregon staff, he served as a long-time Oregon high school coach at several stops. After the departure of Mario Cristobal and most of his staff, Johnson remained as a holdover for Dan Lanning and the new group.
John Canzano also provided a brief note on Johnson following his report, promising to continue updating the latest on his health status.
“I’ve watched Johnson Jr. work over the last couple of years in Eugene,” wrote Canzano. “I’ll tell you what strikes me — players love him and people love him. Johnson Jr. is a strong advocate and a believer in young people. He’s a big voice in the room at Oregon. Will update this as I learn more. Check back.”
Exact details on the incident and further updates on Don Johnson’s heart-related emergency have not been released by the school at this time. Oregon is set to begin spring football this month.
Danny Lanning on Oregon recruiting
Dan Lanning and the new Oregon Ducks football coaching staff may be behind the curve on the recruiting trail, but the former Georgia defensive coordinator has a plan to make up ground as he builds his new program.
“We will be aggressive in our approach moving forward,” Lanning said in a recent press conference. “We’ve already been able to have a couple guys on campus with the unofficial period this past month. We will definitely attack that in March.”
Dan Lanning then proposed a unique collaboration between the coaching staff and fans to help recruiting immediately.
“One of the biggest things we can do as a fan base and as a staff, is focus on getting guys here on April 23rd for our Spring game,” said Lanning. “We need to pack the crowd and make it the experience we know it can be.”
To close out his update on recruiting, the new Oregon football coach said it’s all about the basics in the near future.
“And then it’s just about getting more of these guys on the phone, on campus, on zoom calls,” Lanning added. That’s where we will attack moving forward.”