Everything Dan Lanning, Oregon players said during Fiesta Bowl arrival press conference

Oregon’s coaches, and a large portion of the team’s players, touched down in Phoenix Tuesday for the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl against Liberty.

Upon arrival, head coach Dan Lanning, defensive end Brandon Dorlus, and linebacker Connor Soelle met with reporters for a brief press conference.

Here is a full transcript of everything they said.

Oregon Fiesta Bowl arrival press conference

SCOTT LEIGHTMAN (Fiesta Bowl VP of communications): Good afternoon and welcome to the 2023-24 Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. We are excited to have the Oregon Ducks here playing the Liberty Flames. First we’re going to introduce the head coach, Dan Lanning, who in his first two years, has back-to-back 10-win seasons. One of the most dominant offenses and teams all around in college football. Welcome to the Valley, Coach.

LANNING: We’re thrilled to be here. It was a good trip down and excited to see the sun as we got down here. We are certainly excited about being a part of the Fiesta Bowl. I know our players are anxious to get to work. But I’m also excited for them to reap some of the rewards of what bowl games mean and what the trips mean. We are excited to play a good opponent in Liberty. We know they are very talented and ready for this game, just like our team.

LEIGHTMAN: We have two talented student-athletes here with us. On the far right, a defensive end from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, you will see him as Number 3 on the field, Brandon Dorlus.

DORLUS: I’m pretty excited. This game means a lot. My mom was an alumni of Liberty, so we have a little bit of blood between there. Any time I get to play with my team, another game, I’m excited. Just because it’s a bowl game — we want to go out and beat an undefeated team. So I can’t wait to get out there.

LEIGHTMAN: The young man to my immediate right is a proud Scottsdale native and resident. He won three straight high school championships at Saguaro. He attended the Fiesta Bowl several times, he told me earlier today, and now is here to play and has been able to spend the holidays here, thanks to Coach (Dan Lanning) allowing the players to go home. Without further ado, Number 22, inside linebacker, Connor Soelle.

SOELLE: Yeah, I’m super excited to be back in the Valley for the bowl game. Thanks, Coach Lanning, for letting me spend some time with my family here before. Just like you said, I grew up going to the Fiesta Bowl. It’s been a great experience. My whole life, I see the work that these people do in the community. And I’m just super excited to have the opportunity to play with my teammates on such a big stage. I’m looking forward to it.

Q. Connor, of the Fiesta Bowls that you attended, which one is the most memorable?

SOELLE: I would say probably the LSU/UCF bowl game, just because I feel like nationally, it’s really become known as Joe Burrow’s awakening. He threw an interception at the beginning of the game and got crushed by a defender and it just kind of like — since that day, he’s been such a dominant quarterback. And I think just going to that game, really brings up a lot of memories that come with the Fiesta Bowl and just all the great games over the history.

But I think that’s the one that sticks out most to me, because I was actually there in attendance. I think
it was really cool and looking forward to having another great game this year.

Q. Brandon, to explain why you wanted to play in this game, because you are projected
second- or third-round pick, maybe first. You got a kid. Why play in this game?

DORLUS: I mean, I put an investment here for probably five years, and I mean, there was no other option, to be honest. I love this game. I love playing with my teammates. I love the coaches that are around me, the organization. I feel like, why not one more trip down here? One more business trip, and finish off on a good note and beat my mom’s school.

Q. I realize a lot of the players are going to be traveling on their own, but in terms of who is practicing and the signees who are coming in, who all is expected to be in here and is anybody else who has not announced yet not expected to play?

LANNING: Yeah, I think the easiest thing is probably when you come out to practice and see. I know it will be open to the media later on this week. We are excited about the guys who made this trip. There’s a lot of guys coming with this team that want to play in this game, and certainly some opportunities for some young guys to come and get started on their Oregon careers. I will let time tell that story as it comes up.

Q. Coach, as close as you came to the playoff and the Pac-12 Championship, what does this
game mean in terms of just trying to get the W here to end it off right?

LANNING: That’s the good thing about Bowl Season is you get an opportunity to go out there and play one more game. And more importantly, we want send our seniors off in the right way. Brandon [Dorlus] and Connor [Soelle] put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this game, and we want the opportunity for them to get to celebrate that one last time together on the football field.

Q. For all three of you perhaps, just to dovetail off that, the bowl experience, the last few weeks and what this week will bring, what does the bowl experience mean to the three of you?

LANNING: One of our main traits is connection. I think this is a great opportunity for guys to get to spend time with each other outside of football. Really fellowship and build that brotherhood that’s so important to our success.

DORLUS: Yeah, I mean, last time I was here for Fiesta Bowl, it was really kind of a whirlwind because it was during COVID year. Like Coach Lanning said, the bowl games are great for connections. These times are the times you never going to forget. When you get married, your homies come. We’re going to talk about these bowl games. That’s the reason I play. I love these moments. I love the game and I just can’t wait.

SOELLE: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s just why you work hard all year. It’s to put yourself in a position of playing games like this, and just like Coach Lanning said, connection is a big part of our team and our program and this is an amazing opportunity. We all get to spend this whole week together in this amazing community and with all these amazing people around us and just a lot of great memories to be made. And just like Brandon [Dorlus] said as well, these are stories we will be telling our kids one day. Just really looking forward to the week ahead.

Q. It came up last year with Alabama and the Sugar Bowl with Bryce [Young] and Will Anderson in terms of insurance policies. Do both of you, Brandon [Dorlus] in particular, have insurance policies for this, because it did come up in a rather prominent way last year?

LANNING: Yes, some of our guys certainly do. I think you are making a negative focus about
something that’s not — these guys are really excited to play for the game. Brandon said he couldn’t think about not getting the opportunity to go out to work with his team one more time. And we’re certainly excited to have him here if he wants to be a part of that. But that’s really the focus of this game. These guys have played a lot of football here, had a lot of success for a long time and we will go out there and do it one more time.

Q. Coach, Bo [Nix] had such a great game. In fact, the whole team had a great game the last time you guys were here (against Arizona State). In terms of Bo, how can you sort of explain the season that he had? Just kind of put it into words how much success and the numbers and the touchdowns and the lack of turnovers.

LANNING: Yeah, Bo is a great quarterback. I think he’s proven that over time. He’s had a lot of success here in Oregon. And Bo will be the first one to tell you that that’s credit to his teammates and the people that he had around him and his coaches. Obviously, he’s a tremendous football player that has given a lot to this university team, and we’re excited to go out there with him one more time.

Q. Everyone talks about Oregon’s offensive prowess. I would like to give you an opportunity to talk about what we see out of the Oregon defense this year.

LANNING: We have some greats on defense that’s really important as well. And we made some tremendous strides on that side of the ball. It starts with our relentless effort. We run out there, and we watch this play. We want to see guys that are playing, A to B, for six seconds. I think you see that a lot from our defense this year, certainly from these two guys this year.

Q. Dan, you mentioned some of the young guys will have some big opportunities. Jurrion [Dickey] was certainly somebody the fans were looking forward to this season. He was held back by injury. And Rod [Pleasant], we nearly saw and then he got hurt. What does this game present to each of them and why are they more ready today than at any point in the season?

LANNING: I think the great thing about bowl games we have talked to our team throughout bowl prep, is there is going to be something that shows up in this game that we haven’t really seen yet this season. That’s consistent with bowl games throughout the year, last year we had some guys that showed up big for us in the Holiday Bowl. I know there will be some guys that haven’t shown and will show up in this Fiesta Bowl. It will be fun to see that happen. Beyond that, just having the opportunity for more practices to continue, develop and grow as players. That’s something we want to take advantage of.

Q. Brandon, this one is for you. How do you approach a team or look at a team like Liberty that you guys never saw this season? I mean, when you look at the tape and everything that you see from their offense, how do you kind of get after them?

DORLUS: Like we do all season. I mean, we go into every week, it’s Oregon vs. Oregon. And then you go to the films, and you see, oh, okay, this is what the team does. And I feel like our coaches did a great job of preparing us. And Liberty does a great job with their options, and that will be tough to stop them, but I feel like we did a great job back in Eugene with the last-minute practice. I feel like we are prepared. Games like this, you just got to stay conditioned. You got to tackle well. You can’t have a lot of mistakes out there.