Oregon enters Dan Lanning’s fifth regular season in Eugene with the kind of expectations that come with a program chasing a third straight College Football Playoff berth. But even with the buzz around the Ducks, there are still several major questions hanging over this team - and the answers may decide how far it goes.
The biggest one starts with the coaching staff. Lanning elevated offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer and defensive coordinator Chris Hampton during the offseason, and both hires carry real weight.
Oregon has been rolling offensively under former coordinator Will Stein, now the head coach at Kentucky, and in 2025 the Ducks finished No. 10 nationally with 36.9 points per game. With quarterback Dante Moore back and a loaded group of offensive weapons around him, Mehringer is stepping into a situation built for production.
The question is whether he can match Stein’s standard or even push it higher. His lone season as Rutgers’ offensive coordinator came in 2016, when the Scarlet Knights averaged 15.7 points, which ranked No. 127 in the country.
He’ll have far more talent in Eugene, but there’s still the matter of how quickly everything clicks once he starts calling plays.
Hampton faces a different challenge. He becomes the second defensive coordinator hired by Lanning at Oregon, following Tosh Lupoi, who helped shape a defense that has held opponents to an average of 20.0 points or less per game since 2022.
Hampton’s résumé suggests he can lift a unit. At Tulane from 2021 to 2022, he took the scoring defense from 34.0 points allowed per game, which ranked No. 114 nationally, down to 22.2 points per game, good for No. 32 in 2022.
He also played a role in Oregon’s passing defense climbing from No. 102 nationally to No. 54 in 2023 and then to No. 4 in 2025. The real test now is different: can he keep the Ducks at the level they’ve already reached under Lanning and Lupoi?
Up front, Oregon has earned a reputation that Terry’s unit can lean on. Offensive line coach A'lique Terry has built stout lines through recruiting and the transfer portal, and the Ducks have been finalists for the Joe Moore Award for the past three years.
The issue now is whether that consistency can survive another round of turnover in 2026. Center Iapani "Poncho" Laloulu is back, along with offensive guard Dave Iuli, but three starting spots are open.
Emmanuel Pregnon and Alex Harkey were drafted into the NFL, while Isaiah World signed as an undrafted free agent. That leaves Fox Crader, Gernorris Wilson, Douglas Utu, and even freshman Tommy Tofi in the mix for those jobs.
Oregon will probably sort through a few combinations early, and the eventual five-man group Terry settles on will be one of the more important things to watch this fall.
There’s also a new-look challenge in the secondary after Dillon Thieneman moved on and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the NFL Draft because of his athleticism as well as his production in college. Thieneman finished with 96 total tackles, 2 interceptions, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, and 5 pass deflections.
Replacing that kind of impact is never simple, even for a defense that expects its front to be a force. Oregon’s defensive line should be dominant with A'Mauri Washington, Matayo Uiagalelei, Bear Alexander, and Teitum Tuioti all back, but Thieneman’s departure still leaves a hole.
The Ducks are banking on Koi Perich to help fill it. Like Thieneman, he began at a Big Ten school in the Midwest - Minnesota for Perich, Purdue for Thieneman - before transferring to Oregon as a projected plug-and-play safety.
Perich showed plenty at Minnesota, picking off five passes as a true freshman and then returning his lone interception for a touchdown as a sophomore. In 2025, he added 82 total tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss.
In Other News...
Three Former Ducks Just Landed A Massive NBA Prove-It Chance
A trio of former Oregon mens basketball players is getting another crack at the pro game this summer, with Nate Bittle, TJ Bamba and Brandon Angel all set for NBA Summer League action in 2026. For Ducks fans, it is a reminder that the programs recent roster churn still has players hanging around the leagues edges, where one strong showing can change a lot in a hurry.
Bittle and Angel are headed to Toronto, while Bamba is landing in Denver, giving each of them a real platform to make a case before camps open. Summer League is often a brief window, but for players trying to turn college success into a lasting NBA foothold, it is exactly the kind of stage that matters most. [Read more 🡒]
One Oregon Freshman Is Already Drawing Serious Big Ten Buzz
Oregons 2026 recruiting haul already has the Ducks sitting near the top of the national conversation, and the class is loaded with headline names like five-star safety Jett Washington, five-star edge rusher Anthony Jones and four-star offensive lineman Tommy Tofi. But among the arrivals, freshman tight end Kendre Harrison is the one drawing extra attention because of what he brings to a spot that suddenly looks much thinner than it did a year ago.
Harrison arrives with a strong recruiting rsum and a reputation as a rare athlete, which is why CBS Sports singled him out as a freshman to watch in the Big Ten. Oregon has a path for him to get on the field early if he can separate himself in a room that now leans heavily on Jamari Johnson, and the Ducks could use that kind of immediate help as they sort out the next layer of their offense. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Lanning's Biggest Oregon Recruiting Win Still Sparks One Huge Debate
Dan Lanning has turned recruiting into one of Oregons clearest calling cards, and the Ducks keep stacking the kind of commitments that change how a class looks on paper and how it might look on Saturdays down the road. Recent additions such as Xavier Sabb, Hayden Stepp and Tae Walden Jr. have only reinforced that momentum, giving Oregon another wave of blue-chip talent and keeping the program near the top of the national conversation.
Still, the biggest wins in Eugene tend to come with a familiar debate attached: which pledge mattered most, and which one will end up shaping the roster first? The Ducks have had days that felt like turning points, from the kind of receiver commitment that can set the tone for an entire position group to the offensive line headliner fans already expect to compete quickly, and every new haul seems to revive the same question about how much of this recruiting surge is about star power now versus the payoff later. [Read more 🡒]