Dan Lanning reveals unique approach to transfer portal strategy

Like many, Oregon coach Dan Lanning sees the way the transfer portal has affected college sports. During his National Signing Day press conference, Lanning explained how he plans to use that to the Ducks’ benefit.

“I think it’s changed the game in a lot of ways,” he said. “Not just for us at Oregon, but in college football. You can see that there’s less high school players being recruited at times. That can be an advantage for us, because we’re going to be aggressive in recruiting high school players. Teams can change their rosters quickly. It’s a little bit of a balancing act. I don’t know if we’ll completely know the entire impact until we sit here four years from now and do an analysis of what it’s looked like. For us, I’m not gonna have a hard stance one way or the other until we know how it impacts and benefits us.”

Lanning came to Oregon from Georgia, which he helped land the No. 1 overall class in 2020. After coaching the Bulldogs defense in the national championship, he signed the No. 17 overall class in 2022 with the Ducks according to On3’s Consensus Team Rankings.

But the coach also hasn’t been afraid to attack the portal, landing five transfer players this offseason. Perhaps no move made a bigger splash for the program than landing former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, who projects as the starter for Lanning’s first season in Eugene. The Ducks also signed Washington defensive lineman Sam Taimani, the No. 8 overall player at his position according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings.

Dan Lanning said he expects to use a mix of the transfer portal and traditional recruiting at Oregon. With so much changing so quickly, he stressed that modern coaches need to be flexible from year to year.

“I think as a coach and somebody that’s operating in today’s landscape of college football, you have to be willing to adapt and change,” he said. “I asked questions. Don’t assume you know everything. We worked through that process together to put a great staff together that sees big picture. I think it starts there. There’s a lot of teams right now that don’t know which direction this will head and everyone’s taking a different approach. At the end of the day if you look at our approach, we’re going to look to enhance our program through the transfer portal. But we’re also gonna spend time looking to enhance our program through high school signings. We still want to be able to develop players, but it’s going to change year to year. We’ll continue to adapt our approach as we move forward.”

Although there were certainly some big wins, Oregon also lost its fair share of players to the transfer portal this year. That includes leading rusher Travis Dye, who totaled 1,271 yards and 16 touchdowns this past season, and offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia.

Dan Lanning will kick off the 2022 season against his former team when Oregon faces Georgia on Sept. 3.