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Oregon

Dan Lanning Knew Brandon Finney Was Ready to Play Early

On3 imageby: Justin Hopkins10/15/25
Dan Lanning Oregon

On Wednesday Dan Lanning spoke with media, his final availability prior to Saturday’s matchup with Rutgers. He was asked a great deal about freshman cornerback Brandon Finney. The true freshman has been a standout this season for Oregon’s defense.

You can read most of his best comments below. Or watch the video included at the bottom.

On Poncho’s Leadership:

“Yeah, I mean, Poncho’s been consistent throughout the year. He’s got a voice that everybody respects. He comes out and works every single day. That hasn’t changed, but he’s not a guy that’s afraid or going to hide back behind and not say what he sees and attack it.

On Brandon Finney:

“Yeah, he’s long. He has great size. I think that’s a common trait in speed. His speed has certainly helped him. Had the shot last weekend that he was able to close on. And then his preparation is second to none. He works really hard, watches a lot of film, works hard on the practice field, strains in practice, and it shows up in the game. I think he’s been more of a men of action kind of guy, right, rather than a guy that’s going to have a loud voice. And everybody has to be who they are.

But he goes out there and competes, and to be who they are, but he goes out there and competes and I think his energy comes from when he’s out there making plays.”

On the Run Game:

“Yeah, again, you go into the game and you say, okay, what fits in your plan and what packages are guys being carried in? You know, again, we ran the ball really effectively at times in the first half and just didn’t come back to that enough in the second half. But running games are really important piece of what we do and it’ll continue to be a big piece of what we do.”

On Rutgers’ Special Teams

“Yeah, they’re extremely aggressive, right? Really aggressive, especially in their pump block unit. You know, Coach Schiano has a great history of going after the punter and applying pressure. And it doesn’t mean they always get there, but it usually means they create some havoc in the process, right? They also are aggressive in their other units as well. So kickoff, they’ve done several surprise onside kicks in his career.

You know, there’s a lot of stuff that our guys had to be prepared for. It’s kind of similar to everything they do on their side. They’re aggressive in all facets.”

On the Travel:

“Yeah, we’ve had a couple travel games so far, whether it’s Northwestern, Penn State, this one here. You know, I think that we get better every single opportunity we get when
we make that, those arrangements, make the travel arrangements, make small adjustments to make us better.

On Knowing Finney was Ready to Play Early:

“It didn’t take long. It was just going to be more about, okay, how much can he process and, you know, articulate and execute on the field, right? There’s a lot that we do, but you could see early that he’s a player that’s got a chance to play at a high level for us.”

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