Oregon coach Dan Lanning had more than the Ducks’ 2026 season opener against Boise State on his mind Wednesday. A tragedy at William Jewell College, his alma mater in Liberty, Missouri, hit close to home.
Lanning played linebacker there in the 2000s, and last week the program lost running back MicahJo Barnett. Moments after Barnett scored a touchdown on Saturday, he collapsed on the sideline.
Emergency personnel tried to resuscitate him, but he was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. He was 20.
“You put things in perspective that there’s a lot of things bigger than football,” Lanning said Wednesday. “I’m sure he was on the field doing the thing that he loved, but you never know when that last moment is gonna be. So, really feel for the Jewell community and feel for his family.”
Lanning’s comments also carried the weight of what Oregon has been through. The Ducks have dealt with loss of their own, including tight end Spencer Webb, who died in 2022 after a tragic accident near Triangle Lake, and former cornerback Khyree Jackson, who died in a car crash in Maryland in 2024.
That experience is part of why Lanning starts every team meeting with “four, five” and claps in between, a tribute to the numbers worn by those former players.
“Sad moment that I hope nobody has to experience, but obviously it’s happened now,” Lanning said. “So, just praying for that group, and that they have strength in this moment, and they can fulfill and live their lives out in Micah’s honor.”
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