It was a fun and successful at Autzen Stadium on Saturday as the Oregon Ducks held their annual Spring football game. The Combat Ducks defeated the Fighting Ducks 17-10, but the score wasn't what mattered on this day. It was just a good day to go out and play some football, and even more importantly, no one got hurt in the process.

Head coach Dan Lanning was in a good mood after the spring game. He's excited for the next step for this program and the players showed why Lanning is excited for 2026. It was a defensive struggle, but there were some big offensive plays. Receiver Evan Stewart is back from injury, and he looked even better than he was before the leg injury that cost him the last half of the 2025 season.

Besides the spring game on the field, the Ducks had plenty of news off the field with several former Ducks being selected in the NFL draft. Oregon also brought in former players such as Tez Johnson and Kayvon Thibodeaux to be guess coaches and show the culmination of a career looks like to the current Ducks and to some potential recruits out there who were visiting.

Overall, it was a celebration of Oregon football for everyone involved. Here's what Lanning had to say following the events on Saturday.

Dan Lanning: That was a fun day. You know, there are a lot of things you can walk away with and say, Okay, we got to work on some things, but ultimately, it was fun seeing our guys out there compete. Certainly, some stuff to clean up. Got to get, get some really good reps. And there's nothing like game day experience in a lot of places in the country, and we get to have that here, because our fans are unbelievable. So big shout-out to our fans, making the day so special. I was telling the players in the locker room, they don't realize how unique and special it is to have all these guys that are playing the NFL now come back to and be a part of that. So overall, really special weekend. Obviously, some of our guys are getting drafted, creating opportunities for themselves after Oregon, which is really fun for me to see as a coach, and certainly fun for our program. You guys saw it. I know you guys will probably ask a million questions. There were some guys that we limited today. One, either we know where they're at, or two, just want to be precautionary. I don't put too much stock into what one side of the ball or the other side of the ball did today. This is about everybody improving and us being able to attack.

Question: Starting with your quarterbacks, Dante (Moore) and Dylan (Raiola). How do you feel like they operated the offense as a whole today, based on what you were expecting?

DL: I'll have to go back and watch the film. You know, overall, there was some good on both sides, but ultimately, I have to go back and watch it. Part of it's about, okay, who's throwing, who you throwing it to who's protecting for you? What was the call? We were very vanilla today, right? We're not going to put a bunch on film. We want to just go out there and execute some base game playing calls. So once I watch the film, I'll have a better assessment how each guy played.

Q: What do you want the new coordinators to get out of today that they could take into the fall?

DL: Just sequencing and rhythm, getting the right sequence and rhythm. You know, there's just, when roles change in an organization, it's okay, who's talking to the guys before the team, who's making sure we have our call sheets prepared the way they need to be prepared. There's a lot of that day in and day out that's really important, and us being able to execute at a high level on game day. And again, just as much as it's preparation for the players to be, you know, catch a ball in front of a bunch of people, in front of thousands of people. It's the same thing for coaches to call a defense or an offense in front of a lot of people.

Q: What does it just mean to have him (Stewart) back in the offense? I know it's the spring game, but also, to watch him rip off something like that (76-yard touchdown) first game back.

DL: Yeah, it's been, this has been Evan's best spring since I've been here. I'm really excited about the growth. I think you know, when you have something that's not there for a while, and you don't get the opportunity to do it, you're really hungry when you come back. And I've seen the maturity from him. I've seen him really level up in execution, be a guy that we can count on this spring.

Q: Twelve sacks, 13 tackles for loss, not very many long runs. I'm just curious about the defensive line. What do you think of their performance?

DL: I gotta go watch the film, but I love that we're keeping stats in the scrimmage. We didn't hit the we didn't touch the quarterback, but that counts as a sack. So again, I don't put too much stock in that. We got to protect better. But I also thought we ran the ball pretty well up the middle. So I think there were some things to look at and evaluate. You know, we didn't have a ton of explosive plays. But again, that's a little bit by nature, too. And how things were called.

Q: What was it like to be with Kenyon Sadiq when he got the call from the Jets?

DL: Yeah, man, such a special moment, you know. And for me, those are even more special because I remember being in, you know, Kenyon's living room, trying to convince him to come be a Duck, and then to see that grow three years later, where he gets the opportunity to be drafted in the first round. I know how much that means to him and his family. He's such a special human that's worked extremely hard for everything he's gotten. So when you get that, when you get to see that happen for guys that played for us, that's a pretty special moment.

Q: Big day for Dakorien Moore. What did you think of his performance today?

DL: Some good, some bad. Have to go watch it. I think being able to play in a longer series, right, with exuded efforts, something we got to continue to see right grow. But I'm excited to go watch the film. There were some good plays that he made out there today.

Q: We've seen quite a bit of quite a bit of deep shots taken today. Was that part of the game plan you guys are looking to go into this year, stretch the defense out? Or was it kind of tested to see what your quarterback, receiver kind of combination is?

DL: We're trying to show everybody our game plan. Yeah, no. I mean, which would move the ball down the field. At times, you take shots, certain coverages dictate that again. We had a limited call sheet on both sides of the ball, so that was going to happen at times.

Q: Where do you see the growth from this team from the beginning of spring to now?