Oregon will look to build on its 12-2 season from one year ago under second-year offensive coordinator Will Stein and third-year head coach Dan Lanning.
Lanning spoke to the success Stein has had since arriving in Eugene as the Ducks prepare for their jump to the Big Ten Conference this fall.
“I just think that he does a great job as a coach and working with other coaches, a really collaborative effort,” Lanning said during spring training. “I think he has a great vision of exactly what we want to look like and articulates that vision. He’s brought some great, you know, ideas. He’s one that is always constantly studying what other things exist and doesn’t have an ego. I think that’s really important in this profession. You got to figure out where you can improve and grow. Will’s done an outstanding job of doing that.”
He came into his own down the stretch last season during his first season as OC. Once Oregon got rolling, Stein deserves a lot of credit for how the Ducks shredded defenses all of last year. An entire offseason with Dan Lanning in Eugene will only help in that regard.
Stein came to Oregon after serving as a co-offensive coordinator at UTSA in 2022, but last season marked his first running an offense on his own. With that in mind, the numbers he put up were quite impressive, though there’s certainly room for him to improve being so young in his career.
The Ducks will likely face tougher defenses next season with their transition to the Big Ten Conference. Add in the fact that a lot of their offensive production came through former quarterback Bo Nix, who finished third in last season’s Heisman voting, and leading rusher Bucky Irving.
Oregon went out to get Dillon Gabriel out of the NCAA transfer portal this offseason to replace Nix, now a Denver Bronco, at quarterback. He’ll also have Tez Johnson, who had 86 catches for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns this past season, back as the Ducks’ top receiver.
This past season at Oklahoma, Gabriel had arguably the best season of his career yet. He finished with 3,660 yards, 30 touchdowns, six interceptions, a 69.3% completion percentage, 373 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.
Throughout his five-year college career, Gabriel has 14,865 yards, 125 touchdowns, 26 interceptions, a 63.1% completion percentage, 1,060 rushing yards and 26 rushing touchdowns. With that kind of resume behind him, there was no better candidate in the portal to take over Oregon’s starting quarterback job in year two of Will Stein’s offense.
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