Dan Lanning Confirms RB Makhi Hughes Will Redshirt

It’s a bye week so Dan Lanning’s Monday press conference was on a Wednesday instead. With Lanning having some time to reflect he was able to speak a little more on the Oregon win over Penn State and some other matters.

One of the key takeaways from his press conference was Lanning confirming transfer running back Makhi Hughes has asked to redshirt this season. Which likely opens up the door for him to transfer and finish college career elsewhere. But no confirmation on that just yet.

Here are his top remarks from the interview Wednesday.

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On Makhi Hughes:

“Yeah, he’s asked to redshirt and we will honor that opportunity for him.”

On “Rattling” Dante:

“Yeah, his calm and the poise is really impressive. And I think he carried a narrative early when he left UCLA. If you pressure this guy, it’s not going to be the same. Obviously, he’s a different quarterback, right? He handles pressure extremely well. He protects the ball. I mean, even the big third down conversion to Kenyon, you know, across, you know, that’s a throw that a lot of times you tell your quarterback, don’t make that throw, don’t make that throw. Oh, good. I’m glad you made that throw, right? And he has those moments, his ability to make decisions and pressure moments this year has been really impressive. The Brett Favre throw, right? If it works, right?”

On Coaching a Big Game:

“Yeah, you know, I didn’t play a single snap, and I’m the guy cramping on the plane ride home.
Like, you feel like you played a game. It’s just it’s mentally exhausting. It’s physically exhausting, and it’s, again, a game that could have gone either way that was it’s really refreshing to be on the other end of that when it does. But, you know, everybody in our program put everything they had into that game.”

On Dillon Thieneman’s Versatility:

“Yeah, just his level of intelligence to handle a lot. We pitch a lot to a guy that’s really been in our program one year, and he puts in the work to be able to execute at a really high level. Man, he’s a good tackler. He’s physical. He does a good job in coverage. He checks a lot of boxes. So part of a job as a coach is put guys in positions that they’re going to be productive in the system, and that’s what we feel like. With Dylan, he’s been very productive in that role you know for us and we’re and we’re putting him in a position for him to have success and our team to have success.”

On Young Team’s Growth:

“You know, I think we have a good team. I don’t think anybody can tell you what your team is, you know, early in the season. The key is that this team’s grown every week. And that’s the key is that we have to continue to grow, right? You can’t be satisfied with the growth we had because other teams will grow. And the teams that continue to grow and get better every single week, that’s going to give you the best version of you at the end of the year. So ultimately, love the position that we’re in, but only love it if we keep wandering the plant and keep growing, keep getting better.”

On Emotional Moment with Dante:

I love you. You know, it’s just – and it’s not because of how well he played. It’s about the buy-in. It’s about the work that he’s put in. It’s about the extra time. It’s about the way he treats his teammates. It’s the composure that he shows, the way he makes people around him. He talked earlier about Noah Whittington getting on him in practice because of a lack of focus and him not operating the way that he wanted to and how much he appreciated knowing that moment. And now on the reverse end, him being able to say, I’m going to go pick Noah up after that play’s almost fumble. And we have leaders on our team that can go back and forth and challenge each other to be the best version of themselves. I think that’s really special. And that’s what, that’s part of what Dante’s done here.”

On the Bye Week:

“Yeah, in a lot of ways it fell in the right spot for us. I felt like we just played one of our most physical games. So the recovery piece I think is really huge for us. You know, this bye week I’ve set it up differently than I have in the past based on recovery and time for our guys. It’s also beginning of school for our guys. It’s a great time to be able to start school, right, in a unique time where it doesn’t necessarily affect us in the middle of a game week.”

“So for our guys It’s a great time to be able to start school, right? In a unique time where it doesn’t necessarily affect us in the middle of a game week. So our guys can really attack the classroom the way they need to be able to attack the classroom. And it’s a great time for us to go back. We have enough of a picture, right? Of what our team is so far, where we can really assess what do we do well and what do we not? And what are some of our strong tendencies on both sides of the ball that we need to make sure that we can address and great teams have tendencies. So some of those we’ll keep, right? We’re going to maintain those tendencies. But some of those we can certainly sprinkle in some wrinkles that make us different.”

On Gary Bryant Jr’s Impact:

Yeah, I think Gary is a pillar, right, of our program and the way he operates, what he does. He’s one of the most trusted players on our team, you know, from an assignment standpoint that he’s going to do his job consistently. He’s never been a me guy. He’s always been a we guy. And I think that really shows, you know, in that game, I don’t know how much action he got. And then you get into overtime and he makes a huge play, right, and is able to go execute at a really high level. But that’s exactly who he is in practice every day. He’s going to run on every route full speed, regardless if the ball comes his way or not. He’s going to block his tail off. He’s going to know his assignment. He’s going to be there for his teammates. And obviously a great example of that on Saturday.

On Poncho’s Play:

“Yeah, huge. Poncho did an unbelievable job, and I give a lot of credit to Coach Terry, Coach Cutter, Coach Walk, all those guys throughout the week of creating chaos throughout the week, demanding communication from those guys. And then those guys having the same demands for themselves. But Poncho did an elite job. You know, Dave Iuli half the game, he’s looking backwards. Right? And then he has to turn around and play guard. That’s hard. Right? And he did an unbelievable job of that. You know, Emmanuel Pregnon had one of his best games. You know, there’s that whole unit we operate is that, you know, how well they do is how well we do. And they did a really good job.”