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The Ducks have another four-star in the fold after running back Dante Dowdell’s commitment. So, can these guys coach?
Can Dan Lanning coach?
That’s kind of an odd question to ask about someone whose defense won Georgia the national title last season, but five months into Lanning’s first stint as the man in charge it’s really the only one left.
So far we’ve seen Lanning assemble what appears to be an above-average staff, mend fences between Oregon past and present, put on a show at the spring game and bring a little bit of fun back to the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex.
He’s also shown he can recruit his butt off.
Friday saw the latest win there — the Ducks went into Mississippi and plucked four-star 2023 running back Dante Dowdell right out of Lane Kiffin’s backyard.
Nearly everyone had Dowdell as a local lean until Lanning — and running backs coach Carlos Locklyn — came away at the finish line with the 6-foot-1, 207-pound speedster. Dowdell rushed 329 times for 2,555 yards and 28 touchdowns as a junior in 2021.
Wrote former Oregon director of recruiting Cooper Petagna on Twitter: “#TheDanimal appears to be picking up where Mario Cristobal left off on the recruiting trail which is a good thing for the Ducks. Beating Ole Miss in their backyard for a prospect like Dowdell is nothing to scoff at + important on a few levels given the need/RB market.”
Petagna saw first hand the recruiting machine Oregon turned into under Cristobal. The Ducks finished sixth, seventh, 11th and 13th nationally in his four years, and the greatest fear with his departure to Miami was a step back in the increasingly important field of talent acquisition.
After Dowdell, Oregon has three 4/5-star players committed in the 2023 class.
Cristobal and Miami have one.
And while May is bit too early in the calendar to start really assessing teams against each other, Oregon getting commitments from 2022 tackle Josh Conerly Jr. and 2022 wide receiver Kyler Kasper earlier this spring brought substance to say this is more than just a hot streak.
This was a priority for Oregon when replacing Cristobal. Athletic Director Rob Mullens accomplished that goal.
So, what now?
Well, the odds for Oregon’s season opener against Georgia came out earlier this week and, surprise, the Ducks open as 16.5-point underdogs against the defending national champions. And that makes sense. The Ducks have an entirely new staff, will be starting a new quarterback and are replacing the No. 5-overall pick Kayvon Thibodeaux at defensive end and multiple pieces in the secondary.
Georgia has its own hurdles — the Bulldogs had five players from just their defense selected in the first-round — though that challenge is mitigated by top-five recruiting finishes every year since 2017.
“What an opportunity,” Lanning said last month on The Paul Finebaum show. “You get an opportunity to test yourself early against one of the best teams in the nation. Obviously, I have a lot of respect for that program and what they’ve built over the last few years, but I think it’s a great test for our players to go in there and see what we’re made of.
“I promise you, [Georgia coach Kirby Smart] wants to whoop my tail, and I promise I want to whoop his.”
He’d have to be a heck of a coach to pull that one off. Only a few more months until we find out.
— Tyson Alger
@tysonalger
