Dan Lanning addresses Oregon quarterback competition, qualities he looks for in starter

With only month left until Oregon is kicking off their season against the Georgia Bulldogs in the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and it seems Ducks head coach Dan Lanning is no closer to deciding a starting quarterback. That means the question still remains – Jay Butterfield, Ty Thompson or Bo Nix?

“We’re gonna compete at quarterback like we do at every position, I’m really excited that we have quarterbacks that can play winning football at the University of Oregon. If I felt like it gave us a competitive advantage to tell you, I would – I don’t and we’re going to keep chopping,” Lanning said of his quarterback room. “We have great competition there; we have guys that work really hard.

“[I’m] excited to see our quarterbacks compete – they do a great job. Kenny [Dillingham] does an awesome job developing those guys. And we’re going to keep making sure that we get enough guys enough reps, you can’t have just one quarterback going in the season, so I want to operate with that mentality.”

To most college football fans, Nix is the obvious choice. With three seasons under his belt as the starter for the Auburn Tigers, his SEC experience is invaluable. Thompson was a consensus five-star prospect out of the class of 2021 and Butterfield has as much potential as either of his counterparts.

“We have guys that we can play winning football with – and I’m excited about that,” Lanning said. “We have a variety of experience. [Dillingham] was able to get in and do some things last year in games, [Nix] has been a guy that’s been an experienced starter … but we have talent in that room, we have guys that are smart – I have always felt this is a position that needed to be another coach on the field, and I think coach Dillingham has done a great job of developing their recognition of what that should look like.”

The quarterback battle in Eugene came about thanks to Oregon’s offense being plagued by the inability to move the ball downfield one year ago, and Dillingham has made that clear over the offseason that things will be changing this season. Lanning offered up some of the qualities he’s looking for in a starting quarterback as well.

“Ultimately, you want to be able to operate the system, you have to have a great understanding of the system that we want to run,” Lanning said. “But for me a quarterback, it’s about a guy that can get the ball to an open receiver and the guy that doesn’t turn it over. I think all those guys have good command of the offense. They understand what Kenny [Dillingham] is looking for from a process standpoint … but we’re looking for guys that can take care of the ball and create explosive plays.”