Dan Lanning on quarterback battle: No one has separated yet

Oregon had their first scrimmage this weekend, which also means it was the first time they got to see their three quarterbacks Jay Butterfield, Ty Thompson, and Bo Nix competing against live competition for the starting quarterback job. New head coach Dan Lanning talked about how his quarterbacks performed this weekend and detailed their battle.

“All of our quarterbacks if you actually pull their stats from afterward you’re like wow, they kind of had very similar days. I think all of them had success, all had scored touchdowns, two threw picks. We talk about taking care of the ball but in general very similar performances across the board for those guys,” Lanning said.

Lanning was also asked if protecting the football was a positive overall after their scrimmage, to which Lanning quickly said “No, because we had turnovers, if you have one turnover that’s one too many.”

He also added a sentiment about how his quarterbacks’ interception stats may not tell the full story of their scrimmage performance, implying that the implications of the situational football being practiced could’ve been a contributing factor.

“Now on that same note, our goal on defense is to be plus three every game so there were takeaways. Some of those situations are gonna be situations where you’re going to say you gotta throw the ball. So let’s say it’s fourth down in two minutes, you need a touchdown or to get into field goal range, we’re going to throw the ball,” Lanning said. “So there’s a chance there might be a pick, where on a second down or third down you might say an incomplete’s okay.

“So we had a situation like that where we threw picks on must-throw fourth downs, but ultimately still we want to do a better job taking care of the ball. I think we were closer today. Like I said for those to come in those situations I think tells you a little bit about our quarterback’s decision-making, but we can certainly can still get cleaner,” Lanning said.

Lanning was also asked if there was any frontrunner in his quarterback competition thus far, expressing that overall it’s still a tight race and that he’s okay with that.

“I don’t know, I think everyone’s had shining moments and I don’t feel like there’s one that’s just separating themselves out from the other. I think there’s certainly room for improvement for each one of those guys and they’ve all had really good moments and they’ve all had really poor moments. Again I’ll say this, I feel really confident we have quarterbacks we can win with, which is a big positive,” Lanning said. “I like to know you have multiple quarterbacks you feel really good about and that’s where I’m at right now, is I feel really good about that.”

Ducks fans will surely be on the edge of their seats to see who will start the season opener against Lanning’s former team and defending National Champions Georgia between the two talented freshman in Butterfield and Thompson, or the experienced Auburn transfer Bo Nix.