EUGENE - Oregon’s offense has handed Drew Mehringer a nickname collection that sounds more like a lab coat than a play sheet.
Dante Moore called the Ducks’ first-year offensive coordinator a “Scientist.” Kawika Rogers went with “Albert Einstein.” Dierre Hill landed on “Magician.”
Mehringer heard about all of it for the first time Friday, after Oregon’s third practice of fall camp, and he took it in stride.
“It’s news to me,” Mehringer said. “I think it’s cool that the players have respect for what you know.”
For all the flattering labels, the job in front of him is less about flash than balance. Dan Lanning has trust in Mehringer, just as he does in first-year defensive coordinator Chris Hampton, but he also set up both coordinators to operate in a system with limited complexity. On offense, that means Oregon is expected to look a lot like the version Will Stein ran last season.
That continuity matters. Dante Moore is back.
So is a deep receiver group, now joined by UAB transfer Iverson Hooks. Sophomores Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill are the backbone of the backfield.
And while questions remain along the offensive line, senior center Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu is the steady voice up front.
Still, Mehringer knows the new title comes with a new load.
“The general organization of a lot of people is more of a task than I thought it would be, to be honest,” Mehringer said. “But it’s great. And we have an unbelievable offensive staff that takes a lot of charge, and I don’t have to worry about as (many) things as you maybe think that I would.”
So far in camp, the emphasis has been on keeping things manageable for the players. Mehringer wants some changes that better fit his own ideas, but he is not looking to tear down what worked. Oregon’s offense finished 10th nationally last season at 36.9 points per game, and he has no interest in reinventing that wheel just for the sake of it.
“Complexity is a little bit of a double-edged sword, right?” Mehringer said.
“So, it’s our job as coaches to create that balance, to where we’re not running the same play every single time, and everybody in Autzen Stadium knows exactly what play’s coming. much less the defense. But (also) making sure that we get the reps necessary so that ... when we call that play, the players know how to execute it versus the myriad of defenses they can see.”
The improvement points he named were direct: fewer turnovers, more explosive plays, a steadier run game and better red-zone execution.
Those are the kinds of areas every offense chases. For a team in the College Football Playoff conversation, they can decide everything.
“Every year is a new puzzle to figure out,” Mehringer said. “Last year is last year, and we kind of leave it there.
And what can we do moving forward? Rather than (looking) at it from where can we improve, but more so of how can we take the personnel that we have to go improve that?
Rather than, ‘We just need to fix this problem,’ if that makes sense. Because it might be a completely different solution.”
The rest of fall camp will be about finding those solutions. Oregon still needs to sort out who will line up around Laloulu on the offensive line, and it also has to determine which young playmakers are too good to keep off the field.
Mehringer, for his part, is still learning on the fly even as the praise keeps coming. The formulas may be there, but he knows the real work is in the details.
“I think that me and Hamp are growing and getting better,” Mehringer said. “And we talk about it as a staff when we’re watching practice, like, hey, these are the two things that I messed up in practice, these are the two things that I gotta get better at.
“And so, we can challenge each other to have better answers. So that by the time we come and play this thing live, I think we can be as good as we possibly can be.”
In Other News...
Dan Lanning Makes Oregons Stance On NCAA Rule Change Clear
The NCAAs switch to a new 5-for-5 eligibility model has changed the way coaches around the country think about roster building, but Dan Lanning does not sound especially concerned about it altering Oregons plans this fall. The new rule gives student-athletes five years of eligibility instead of four and removes the old four-game limit that freshmen had to stay under to preserve a redshirt season, making the whole system a little easier to manage on paper.
For Oregon, though, Lanning indicated the practical impact should be limited in the upcoming season because of the way eligibility still has to line up within the program. That leaves the Ducks in a familiar spot, working through the roster with an eye on development and depth, but without needing to overhaul their approach simply because the NCAA changed the language around redshirts. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Lanning Just Ignited A New Oregon Mount Rushmore Debate
Oregon football debates have a way of resurfacing every time a coach or former player starts naming names, and Dan Lanning just gave Ducks fans a fresh one to chew on. Asked for his personal Mount Rushmore, Lanning went with Marcus Mariota, Haloti Ngata, De'Anthony Thomas and LaMichael James, a group that blends the programs biggest star power with some of its most electric playmakers.
Mariota, of course, stands alone as Oregons only Heisman Trophy winner, while Ngatas place in the College Football Hall of Fame gives the list some heavyweight credibility. Thomas and James also carry their own strong cases based on how they shaped the Ducks during their eras, and Lanning admitted the fourth spot was the hardest call before settling on James. For a program with no shortage of iconic names, the conversation is as much about who gets left out as who makes the cut. [Read more 🡒]
Chris Hampton Faces Huge Oregon Test With Title Hopes On The Line
Chris Hampton steps into the defensive coordinator chair at Oregon with little time to settle in, but plenty to work with. After Tosh Lupois departure, Hampton was elevated from co-defensive coordinator to run a unit that brings back key pieces such as Brandon Finney Jr., Koi Perich, Devon Jackson and Jerry Mixon, giving the Ducks a foundation that should make the transition smoother than it might have been elsewhere.
The challenge now is making sure that continuity shows up when the games start mattering, especially for a program with championship ambitions and a season opener looming. Hampton has a big early test in Boise State on Sept. 5 at Autzen Stadium, and the first real measure of Oregons defense will come quickly as it tries to prove the coaching change has not slowed down a group expected to stay among the nations best. [Read more 🡒]