Dan Lanning didn’t need long in Chicago to point out where Oregon’s biggest question lives heading into fall camp.
At Big Ten Media Days, the Ducks coach said the program’s experience is already a separator as it turns toward 2026, but he also singled out one spot that will demand attention: the offensive line. It’s the unit he called the one to watch, and for good reason. Oregon is bringing back some proven pieces, but the group is also staring at major turnover.
The Ducks do have a foundation. Center Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu and right guard Dave Iuli are back after starting on a line that reached the Joe Moore Award finalist stage in 2025. Even so, Oregon lost three of its five starters, and Lanning said the next version of the front will almost certainly include at least one underclassman in the lineup.
“There's some great competition. I would tell you it's a really talented group with a lack of experience, and that's probably the group to watch as we approach this next season,” Lanning said on Big Ten Network.
“What's it going to look like? There's a lot of different pieces that can fall in place.
A lot of competition at that position.”
That competition is especially wide open at both tackle spots and at left guard after Emmanuel Pregnon, Alex Harkey and Isaiah World moved on to the NFL. Oregon added Yale transfer Michael Bennett in the offseason, and he arrives with the most experience among the players in the mix for starting jobs.
The rest of the battle features a handful of younger names trying to force their way into the picture. Incoming five-star Immanuel Iheanacho, redshirt sophomore Fox Crader and former five-star Douglas Utu are all in line to compete for their first season as a steady starter.
For Lanning, this is familiar territory. Oregon has watched offensive linemen head to the NFL Draft in each of the last few offseasons, yet the results in the trenches have kept coming. He pointed to offensive line coach A’lique Terry as the reason the Ducks have been able to keep reloading instead of rebuilding.
“He's done an unbelievable job, and I think there's been multiple times in my career now where we said, ‘Oh, well, what's the o-line going to look like? These guys went to the NFL,’” Lanning said.
“And guess what? A’lique's done a great job of creating a group with the other coaches that he works with, of them going out there and establishing it.”
“We've been Joe Moore Award finalists three years in a row,” he continued. “That doesn't happen on accident. That speaks volumes of the job that A’lique does and the coaches he works alongside.”
Terry’s value to Oregon goes beyond coaching the group once it gets on campus. He has also shown he can recruit.
The three offensive linemen who left for the NFL this offseason all arrived at Oregon as transfers before 2025, and Terry’s recruiting work has been recognized by 247Sports as well. In the 2026 cycle, he ranked No. 11 in the Big Ten among recruiters, and he came in at No. 19 in the 2025 cycle.
Overall, 247Sports gave him a No. 38 national ranking.
Even with all the moving parts, Oregon still has one important piece of continuity: the relationship between Laloulu and quarterback Dante Moore. That connection gives the Ducks a steady link in the middle of the line while the rest of the group sorts itself out. If Terry’s recent track record is any guide, Oregon should still have a front capable of holding up at a high level.
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