Dan Lanning raves about Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, the challenge they pose

Oregon coach Dan Lanning knows the Ducks’ first opponent about as well as any coach could know their opposition. You know, considering he coached the team they face just last year. After helping Georgia reach historic heights on defense in 2021 as their DC, Lanning understands exactly the type of challenge he has ahead of him. He may know the UGA defense better than the new coordinator does, since Lanning actually coached most of these guys in live action.

Of course, ahead of the Ducks’ and Dawgs’ matchup, Lanning had nothing but praise for some of his former stars that he’ll be coaching. Particularly, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, perhaps the best two players in the revamped Georgia front seven.

Here was Lanning on the two of them:

“Yea, both tremendous guys, you know. Obviously, remember recruiting and being around both of those guys. But they’re tremendous talents, you know. Jalen is maybe as explosive and as powerful and strong as any defensive lineman that I’ve ever been around, you know. He’s, you know, he would catch passes as a high schooler. He can dunk a basketball in just about any way.”

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“Nolan, you know, is a tenacious player. Plays with great effort and physical toughness. And I think that defense is really taking on the personality of Nolan, you know. Extremely passionate, he plays really hard every down. He’s very consistent, extremely demanding, and gets every ounce of his ability out of himself with the way he plays. So I have a lot of respect for both those guys and we’ll obviously be aware of where they’re at.”

No surprise that Dan Lanning had nothing but praise for his former players. After all, they’re a reflection of his coaching and development. So Carter and Nolan dominating could be both a good and bad sign for Ducks fans. A good sign for how impressive Lanning’s developmental ability is. But obviously a bad sign for this game in particular.

Ducks are immense underdogs as Dan Lanning faces his former head coach. But they’ll have a puncher’s chance if Bo Nix can make some magic happen.