An elephant in the room for Oregon football fans was whether new Oregon head coach Dan Lanning could be the complete coach in all areas. Considering the Washington and Oregon State games–the description would be, “to be determined” as we watch his growth in 2023 as an in-game coach. For many of us though, even with the mistakes–it was an improvement over the prior coach. I always check Oregon live scores just as we all know that Mario Cristobal hung his hat on recruiting; but what if Coach Lanning could match those skills?
He has done better than that, as it is now official; he beat Mario Cristobal as a first full year coach in recruiting by the unique Mr. FishDuck standards.
Lanning has a recruiting class with 15 of the 4/5-Star recruits on Rivals, when the previous record for a new HC after one year was 14 by Coach Cristobal. Recruiting was Cristobal’s forte, and Coach Lanning just exceeded his results in a first year comparison. Now can Coach Lanning beat Cristobal’s best class of 19 that was achieved after Mario had been here for three years? That is a tough record to beat, and it will be fun to watch if he does!
The Cristobal first-year coach recruiting record was passed by Lanning on Wednesday, when Ashton Porter confirmed his signed LOI with the Ducks at an All-Star game. Frankly, I am pretty blown away, because although I felt Lanning put together a superb young staff for recruiting … Mario was pretty darn good at it as he shattered the recruiting glass ceiling at Oregon. It is an amazing feat, particularly because I could not imagine anyone even matching, let alone beating the first Cristobal recruiting record.
Receivers coach Junior Adams has brought in superb talent, and still going for more!
It makes me dreamy about what could be over the next several years, and yet it is also shocking as Oregon is not done with recruiting for the 2023 class. Never has Oregon turned so many players to sign with the Ducks on the early signing day, and never has Oregon been still actively recruiting two 5-Star and numerous 4-Star players for the February signing period. It is darned astounding for Our Beloved Ducks.
But wait! There’s more!
The Lanning staff has already reeled in some important portal transfer players, and is in pursuit of two former 5-Star players, and a slew of former 4-Star transfers that can fill some holes and put Oregon in a position to challenge again for the Pac-12 Championship. The next three weeks will be fun to follow, as Oregon recruiting is hot.
So many people on the OBD forum were moaning about how sub-par the recruiting was looking last summer; how many times did you see me post in the OBD forum then and in the fall, “Trust me, Oregon will get theirs.” I knew Lanning would finish well, but I am slack-jawed at how well. Is this the beginning of being a perennial elite CFB team?
Initially the recruiting chops of Adrian Klemm was being questioned, but he came through and produced an extraordinary OL class.
FishDuck Articles Go From Seven to Two Per Week
I am sorry to say that the official football publishing season for FishDuck ends with this article. Starting this next week–we will publish articles on Mondays and Tuesdays, with an occasional article later in the week. Your favorite writers such as Darren Perkins, David Marsh, Jordan Ingram, Joshua Whitted, Coach Boles, Alex Heining and of course, yours-truly will still be writing, but much less often in the off-season.
Why so few articles in the off-season?
To have articles seven days a week through the year is a mega-effort of constantly recruiting and training writers, and I simply do not have the time now with my work doing Charitable Planned Giving consulting. Of course we will go back to seven days a week of articles in August through the 2023 football season, and the best news is how all those wonderful writers we all enjoy reading are still at FishDuck and will be fueling discussion with new articles.
Meet me over at the forum-with-decorum to discuss Lanning’s incredible feat because…
“Oh, how we love to ponder about Our Beloved Ducks!“
Charles Fischer (FishDuck)
Eugene, Oregon
Top Photo by Eugene Johnson
Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 35 years and has written reports on football boards for over 23 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He and his wife Lois, have a daughter Christine, reside in Eugene Oregon, where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years and now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations.
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…
