Three practices into fall camp, Oregon’s new offensive coordinator is balancing creativity with execution while building around Dante Moore’s leadership, an expanding group of playmakers and competition throughout the depth chart.
Drew Mehringer has apparently developed a reputation inside Oregon’s locker room.
Dante Moore called him a scientist at media day. Kawika Rogers went further, describing Mehringer as “Albert Einstein for football” because of the coordinator’s ability to look at a defense, diagnose the front and coverage and immediately understand how Oregon should attack it.
Mehringer learned about the comparison after Oregon’s third fall-camp practice.
“That’s news to me,” he said.
He appreciated the compliment, but his explanation of what he actually wants to accomplish revealed something more important about Oregon’s new offensive coordinator than the nickname.
“I think it’s cool that the players have respect for what you know,” Mehringer said. “We’re all just trying to do the best we can and put them in the best position possible and continue to educate them on more than just what they do on any given play, but how the game works and what can prepare them to play at the next level and play for as long as they possibly can.”
Then came the part that has become a recurring theme through Oregon’s first three practices.
“Just got to go out and get a little bit better every day and keep teaching them and keep growing them.”
The scientist label could create the impression that Mehringer intends to overwhelm opponents with an enormous playbook filled with exotic answers.
His actual philosophy is almost the opposite.
Oregon wants enough answers to prevent a defense from knowing what is coming. Mehringer also knows every additional answer comes with a cost.
“Complexity is a little bit of a double-edged sword,” Mehringer said. “You could run 100 million plays. How many reps are you going to get all those plays? So how well do you think they’re going to get executed in the game?”
That balance between what Oregon can do and what Oregon can execute at an elite level may define Mehringer’s first season calling the offense.
After three practices, the Ducks are still discovering where that line belongs.
The smartest offense may be the one that knows what not to call
Oregon’s returning experience gives Mehringer options.
Moore enters his third season in the program. The running backs gained significant experience as freshmen. The wide receiver room contains established contributors, returning young talent and another group of newcomers. Jamari Johnson gives Oregon an experienced tight end, and although three offensive-line starters departed for the NFL, several players competing to replace them have spent years inside A’lique Terry’s system.
That knowledge potentially allows Oregon to expand.
Mehringer does not believe expansion should become the objective by itself.
“You can be super complex, but it’s a little bit of a balance,” he said. “It’s at the expense of what?”
The Ducks need enough variation that neither the defense nor everyone in Autzen Stadium can anticipate the call. But Oregon also needs enough repetitions that when Mehringer reaches for something on game day, every player understands how to execute it against the different defensive answers opponents may present.
“That’s our job as coaches, to create that balance,” Mehringer said.
That philosophy sounds remarkably similar to what Chris Hampton described after the second practice.
Hampton said Oregon’s defense is considerably further along with installation than it might have been at this stage several years ago. But he also explained that the Ducks will eventually self-scout, determine what they execute best and “major” in those concepts rather than carrying everything simply because it was installed.
Lanning framed the same idea after the opening practice from the perspective of individual players.
The more a player can mentally absorb, the more Oregon can ask him to do. Lanning used Dierre Hill Jr. as an example after the sophomore handled responsibilities beyond his traditional running back role.
“We try to break football down from really complicated things and make them really simple,” Lanning said.
Through three days, Oregon’s offensive and defensive philosophies appear to be meeting in the same place.
The Ducks do not want simplicity because they lack options.
They want clarity so all those options can actually work.
Mehringer is getting his own fall-camp repetitions
The transition from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator has not simply changed Mehringer’s title.
It has changed the number of people, decisions and moving pieces for which he is responsible.
“I think I have a better understanding of who we are, what we can do at this moment,” Mehringer said. “I do think there’s obviously a clear transition from my role last year to what it is this year.”
One adjustment surprised him.
“Just the general organization of a lot of people is more of a task than I thought it would be, to be honest,” Mehringer said.
He credited Oregon’s offensive staff for absorbing much of that responsibility and allowing him to focus on the larger picture. More importantly, Mehringer has approached his own development much like Oregon expects its players to approach theirs.
He and Hampton watch practice tape and identify their own mistakes.
“These are the two things that I messed up in practice,” Mehringer said. “These are the two things that I’ve got to get better at.”
The relationship between the two new coordinators has created another layer to Oregon’s competitive practices. If Mehringer discovers something Hampton’s defense makes particularly difficult, it becomes something he can study. Hampton can do the same when Oregon’s offense stresses the defense.
“We can challenge each other to have better answers,” Mehringer said. “So by the time we come and play this thing live, I think we can be as good as we possibly can be.”
Hampton described the same process a day earlier.
Lanning has created unscripted “call-it periods” in which both coordinators must react to situations rather than knowing the circumstances in advance.
“I need practice just like the players do,” Hampton said.
A coordinator must recognize the difference between second-and-one, second-and-10, third down and fourth down in real time. Hampton said those periods force both coordinators to make decisions under conditions closer to what they will experience on Saturdays.
There is something fitting about Oregon’s two coordinators learning against one another while their players do the same.
The offense challenges the defense. The defense exposes problems for the offense. Mehringer and Hampton exchange information about what created difficulty, then search for better solutions.
Nobody has to wait until September to discover what needs work.
Moore has become the heartbeat of Mehringer’s offense
Mehringer believes Moore’s most significant improvement has little to do with arm strength, accuracy or understanding coverage.
It is leadership.
“I think the area that Dante has grown the most is in leadership,” Mehringer said.
Two years ago, Oregon did not belong to Moore. Even some players now viewed as foundational leaders, including Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu, were still growing into the responsibility they carry today.
Mehringer believes that has changed.
“Guys like that have grown into those roles, and they are the standard for the way that things operate,” he said.
Moore’s leadership shows up in places designed primarily for someone else.
Mehringer pointed to signal meetings as an example. They are intended largely for younger and newer players who still need additional work, but Moore arrives first and makes sure the freshmen are there.
“He’ll be the first one at a signal meeting,” Mehringer said. “It’s really designed for young guys, new guys that haven’t been around, but he’ll be there. And he’ll make sure that freshmen are there.”
The physical development continues, but Mehringer views quarterback differently from positions where the job can be evaluated mostly through individual execution.
“You’re the heartbeat, foundation,” Mehringer said. “You’re the spark of what’s going to happen.”
Moore’s understanding of Oregon’s offense is now “some of the best I’ve ever been around,” Mehringer said.
That description fits what Oregon’s players said throughout media day.
Michael Bennett III, the veteran transfer offensive lineman, said Moore’s honesty, humility and willingness to challenge teammates immediately stood out after Bennett arrived in Eugene.
“That’s the type of quarterback you want to block for,” Bennett said.
For Bennett, one of the most important qualities of a quarterback is how badly the players surrounding him want to play for him.
Moore has already created that response.
“He’s a guy who’s going to challenge you as a teammate, ask you to challenge him,” Bennett said. “Ultimately, I think he’s a great leader for this team.”
Moore also said at media day that his trust with Oregon’s receivers grew substantially during the offseason, both through football work and time spent together away from the facility.
The roster may contain experienced players and new ones, but Moore said the objective is getting everyone aligned around the same goal.
Mehringer now gets to build an offense around a quarterback who knows the system, understands what the coordinator is trying to accomplish and increasingly recognizes that his responsibility extends beyond executing the call.
That provides Oregon with something it has not always had when transitioning to a new offensive coordinator.
Continuity at the position where continuity matters most.
The scientist has believers inside the offense
Moore’s confidence extends to the person calling the plays.
At media day, he praised the job Will Stein did before leaving Oregon and then described what Mehringer brings to the role.
“He’s a scientist,” Moore said. “He’s really smart. He’s for sure really good at dissecting defenses and helping make sure we have the right play called.”
Moore acknowledged that a first-year coordinator will encounter situations he must learn from, but he expects Mehringer to adapt.
“He’s been coaching me very well, coaching the players,” Moore said. “He was a tight end coach, now he’s coaching the whole offense. He’s done a great job with that.”
Rogers provided the more colorful description.
“Coach Mehringer is my guy,” Rogers said. “He could look at a defense, turn around and draw the whole defense again.”
Rogers said Mehringer could identify fronts, rotations and coverages almost immediately.
“He’s like Albert Einstein for football,” Rogers said. “He’s the man.”
Dave Iuli offered a different perspective.
The veteran offensive lineman agreed with the scientist description but added “history teacher” because Mehringer regularly draws lessons from the past. Iuli said Mehringer also brings an energy and personal connection into the offensive meeting room, including a routine in which players get up and hug one another before beginning the day.
More importantly, Iuli said Mehringer uses those interactions to remind players to remain humble and grateful even when Oregon’s demanding routine starts to feel ordinary.
Those descriptions help explain why Mehringer’s opening answer Thursday mattered.
The players respect what he knows.
Mehringer’s challenge is turning that knowledge into something they can repeatedly execute rather than simply demonstrating how much he knows.
Wide receiver remains a meritocracy
Few rooms better illustrate that balance between possibility and execution than Oregon’s wide receivers.
The Ducks have talent.
Mehringer is not ready to assign all of it a role.
“We tell everybody that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” he said. “There are no jobs that have been solidified or anything like that. You’ve got to go out and earn it every single day.”
Mehringer invokes the story of Wally Pipp, whose absence famously opened the door for Lou Gehrig.
“You think you can take a day off?” Mehringer said. “Lou Gehrig may take your job and may never give it back.”
His conclusion was direct.
“It’s a meritocracy. You’ve got to go out and earn it.”
Mehringer believes Oregon has built a culture in which that competition does not require players to root against one another. The Ducks actively want the opposite side of the ball to push them because difficult practice repetitions improve the entire roster.
Hampton provided evidence of that from the defensive side after practice No. 2.
Asked about freshman receiver Jalen Lott, Hampton praised his catch radius, acceleration, hands, ability to start and stop and overall burst.
Then he widened the assessment.
“Going against all of our receivers in practice is a challenge,” Hampton said. “They make some plays against us, and you think, ‘I am glad they are on our team.’”
Lott, Hampton added, “has looked really good so far.”
That does not mean Lott or another young receiver has secured a place in Oregon’s rotation.
Mehringer wants another week before making stronger judgments about how the group fits together. He credited Wilson Love and the sports performance staff for changing the bodies of some of the younger receivers during the summer.
“They look completely different,” Mehringer said. “It’s a testament to him and what the players did over the summer.”
Iverson “Strap” Hooks is another player attempting to earn a role.
Mehringer emphasized that Oregon recruited Hooks because the staff believes he is already a good football player. The challenge is adapting to an offense that may ask him to do more than he did previously.
“He’s continuing to grow in this offense,” Mehringer said. “I think that he makes plays for us.”
If Hooks keeps progressing, Mehringer expects him to contribute.
“He’s in a great spot,” Mehringer said. “If he keeps pushing, I think that he’ll help us a lot this year.”
The answer will ultimately come from the same place as every other position.
Not recruiting profile, age or reputation.
Practice.
Dierre Hill’s expanded role is becoming tangible
Lanning provided one of the first clues about Oregon’s plans for Hill after Day 1.
The sophomore running back had been asked to do “multiple things” beyond the responsibilities he handled as a freshman.
“He’s in Year 2,” Lanning said. “We expect that out of him.”
Mehringer confirmed Thursday that Oregon continues exploring how Hill’s explosiveness can be used in different places.
The difference from last August is dramatic.
“Just going back a year ago to this point, we really didn’t even know at that time what Dierre was really going to do,” Mehringer said.
Hill’s emergence occurred during the season.
“You see this burst down the field, and it’s like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do something with this guy,’” Mehringer said.
Now the Ducks begin camp already knowing they possess that weapon.
The next question is how many ways they can deploy it.
Mehringer tied Hill’s opportunity directly to the sophomore’s mentality and work ethic, while placing Jordon Davison in the same category.
“Him and Jordon Davison have been unbelievable in terms of their work ethic,” Mehringer said.
Expanded responsibility also means expanded opportunity for mistakes.
Mehringer is comfortable with that.
“As you grow both of their roles, to be honest, they have a lot more to learn,” he said. “So there’s going to be some more mistakes, and that’s OK. They’re working as hard as they can at it.”
If Oregon has a player capable of creating space and scoring from it, Mehringer sees little reason to restrict him to a conventional label.
“If you’ve got a guy that can get out in space and run and score and things like that, let’s find ways to go do that and help him help us.”
That fits one of the clearest themes Lanning established after the opening practice.
Veterans who possess the mental acuity to handle more will be challenged to do more.
Wide receivers are expected to learn multiple spots. Offensive linemen are being moved between guard and tackle. Hill is expanding beyond what he did as a freshman.
Versatility is not being treated as experimentation for its own sake.
It is a way to create more solutions from the personnel Oregon already has.
The offense’s biggest improvements are not complicated
For all the discussion about Mehringer’s intelligence and Oregon’s versatility, his assessment of where the offense must improve sounded decidedly old-fashioned.
Protect the football.
Create explosive plays.
Run when the situation demands it.
Finish drives in the red zone.
“When we played our best, it’s kind of the age-old adages of football,” Mehringer said. “We don’t turn the ball over, and we create explosive plays.”
Oregon also needs to maintain the ability to impose the run when circumstances require it.
“We’ve got to find ways to run the football at times when we need to,” Mehringer said.
The red zone provides another clear point of emphasis.
“As we get down into the red zone, we can grow there and do some better things there,” he said.
That creates an interesting competition with Hampton’s defense.
A day earlier, Hampton identified red-zone defense as his unit’s No. 1 area for improvement after Oregon finished 127th nationally in that category.
“We have to get red-zone stops,” Hampton said.
One side needs to become better at finishing drives.
The other needs to become better at ending them.
Every red-zone period in fall camp can help determine whether both improve.
The same is true of Oregon’s offensive line against a defensive front determined to create more sacks and tackles for loss. The receivers face a secondary with substantial depth and experience. Moore operates against a defense installing a broader package earlier than Hampton said would have been possible at previous stops.
The competition is not merely about determining who won Thursday’s practice.
It is designed to expose the precise weaknesses both coordinators must fix before those weaknesses are exposed by someone wearing a different uniform.
Mehringer sees each season as a new puzzle
Oregon does not intend to repair last season’s offense by recreating it with different names.
Mehringer’s approach begins with the personnel available now.
The Ducks may identify something that needs improvement from last season, but the solution may change because the players have changed.
“Every year it’s a new puzzle to figure out,” Mehringer said. “Last year is last year, and we kind of leave it there.”
That is particularly important along the offensive line.
Oregon enters camp with a “fresh slate” of players who could occupy multiple positions. Mehringer’s responsibility is not merely telling them what the previous group did.
It is determining what this group can do and building the answers around that.
“How can we take the personnel that we have to go improve that rather than, ‘We just need to fix this problem?’” Mehringer said. “Because it might be a completely different solution.”
Hampton said almost exactly the same thing from the defensive perspective.
The Ducks are installing a broad menu, evaluating who their best players are and eventually identifying what they execute most efficiently.
“Whatever we do best is what we need to major in,” Hampton said.
That parallel is significant.
Oregon’s two new coordinators are not inheriting systems they intend to protect from the personnel.
They are evaluating personnel to determine what the systems should become.
Poncho is the “rock” of an unsettled offensive line
No position creates a more obvious puzzle than the offensive line.
Oregon lost three starters and entered camp without an established five.
Lanning does not consider that a problem yet.
After the first practice, he reiterated that Oregon has consistently developed offensive linemen by rotating players before they become full-time starters. Josh Conerly Jr., Jackson Powers-Johnson and Laloulu all received opportunities that way.
Lanning hopes Oregon eventually identifies as many as eight linemen capable of playing winning football.
“I don’t necessarily want a clear five yet,” Lanning said. “We’re a long ways away from a game.”
If the personnel around Laloulu remains unsettled, Mehringer has no uncertainty about the center himself.
“Poncho is the rock, the apex in there,” Mehringer said.
Laloulu’s value extends beyond experience.
He still accepts coaching as though he is fighting for his first opportunity.
Mehringer compared that approach to a story about Jerry Rice taking notes during an installation late in his NFL career despite having run the concept thousands of times.
That is what Mehringer sees from Laloulu.
“If Poncho gets coached on anything, Poncho’s not the fourth-year starter guy that’s like, ‘Coach, I’m good,’” Mehringer said. “He’s like, ‘Got it, Coach. Yep, I’m going to get that fixed.’ Like it’s Day 1.”
The example removes excuses from everyone else.
“He’s vocal. He’s tough. He’s physical. He’s everything that you want that kid to be,” Mehringer said. “I don’t know that you could place a value on that. That’s extremely hard to find.”
Moore expressed similar confidence at media day.
He credited Terry for developing the group and Laloulu for helping mold the linemen around him.
“Overall, I’m not worried at all,” Moore said. “We have so much more time of practice and getting reps in with each other, and I for sure feel confident Game 1.”
The five may not be settled.
The standard in the middle of them is.
Raiola’s progress is about more than arm talent
Mehringer’s assessment of Dylan Raiola also fit the larger theme of Oregon’s camp.
Talent was never the question.
“Dylan, super smart player, great arm talent,” Mehringer said.
The important development has involved everything required to harness those traits.
Raiola changed his body, worked independently to learn the offense and integrated himself into a new team despite entering a quarterback room with an established starter.
Mehringer believes that requires humility.
“It takes a sense of humility to be him,” he said. “So I have a lot of respect for him and for what he’s done and how he’s integrated into this team.”
The challenge is directing everything Raiola possesses toward productive development.
“It was never an issue of whether or not he was talented,” Mehringer said. “It’s harnessing all of that and getting it to go in the right direction for him. And I think he’s embraced that.”
Raiola explained that mindset at media day.
His job is to push Moore, push the room and prepare himself while supporting the starter’s goals. The arrangement allows competition and connection to coexist rather than forcing Oregon to choose between them.
That is precisely the kind of culture Mehringer says makes a meritocracy work.
Players can want the job without wanting the person beside them to fail.
Moore has not changed as the spotlight has grown
Moore’s rise from backup quarterback to the face of Oregon football has changed the demands around him.
Mehringer does not believe it has changed Moore.
“One of the things that makes Dante great is Dante is going to be uniquely himself all the time,” he said.
That does not mean Moore ignores the responsibilities attached to his position. Mehringer believes he has embraced them.
What impresses him is that Moore has done so without constructing a new personality around the attention.
“He hasn’t changed who he is,” Mehringer said. “He hasn’t changed his values. He hasn’t changed his routines. He hasn’t changed anything about himself. He just understands that, ‘Hey, there’s a few more things I’ve got to do.’”
Mehringer acknowledged how unusual those expectations can be for someone who recently turned 21.
College football increasingly asks prominent quarterbacks to handle leadership, NIL responsibilities, media attention and public expectations at an age when most people are still discovering what adulthood will look like.
Moore has taken it “in stride,” Mehringer said.
At media day, Moore described the pressure surrounding Oregon as a privilege.
“There’s a lot of pressure on this team, but at the end of the day, we kind of put that pressure on ourselves,” Moore said.
His expectation is that the pressure will continue to increase throughout his career.
“You’ve got to embrace it and enjoy it,” he said.
Mehringer now has a quarterback who appears increasingly prepared to do exactly that.
Competition is supposed to make both sides better
A’Mauri Washington offered one of the clearest explanations at media day for what Oregon hopes its internal competition produces.
Asked about an offensive line replacing three starters, Washington did not talk about exploiting inexperienced players during practice.
“I want to come in and make these dudes work,” Washington said. “They want to come in and make me work.”
If Oregon believes it possesses one of the best defensive lines in the country, Washington believes the responsibility attached to that reputation includes improving the offense.
“If they say we got the best D-line, we should be making our offensive line look like the best offensive line,” Washington said. “It should just replicate off each other.”
That statement could serve as the bridge connecting what Lanning, Hampton and Mehringer have discussed through three practices.
Lanning wants players capable of bringing others with them.
Hampton wants a defense whose competition does not create resentment when another player succeeds.
Mehringer wants a meritocracy in which teammates push one another and actively welcome difficult work from the opposite side of the ball.
The competition is not supposed to identify one winner from every repetition.
It is supposed to improve the roster.
Oregon is still solving the puzzle
Three practices are not enough to determine exactly what Mehringer’s first Oregon offense will become.
He does not know precisely how the wide receiver rotation will settle. Oregon does not have to name its five offensive linemen yet. Hill and Davison are learning responsibilities that come with expanded roles. Hooks is still growing into a more extensive offense. Raiola is learning how to maximize a season in which Moore remains the established quarterback.
Even Mehringer is still practicing the responsibilities that accompany his new job.
That uncertainty is not preventing Oregon from moving forward.
It is the purpose of fall camp.
Lanning spent Day 1 asking how many players could handle more.
Hampton spent Day 2 explaining how Oregon will install broadly before identifying what it should major in.
Mehringer used Day 3 to describe the offensive version of the same process.
There are plenty of possibilities.
The goal is not to use all of them.
It is to identify the right ones.
The scientist label may fit Mehringer because of his ability to dissect defenses, redraw what he sees and search for answers. But his first fall camp as Oregon’s offensive coordinator is not becoming an experiment in how complicated football can become.
It is an exercise in finding the correct balance between knowledge and execution, experience and opportunity, creativity and repetition.
The Ducks want explosive plays, fewer turnovers, a dependable running game and better red-zone execution. They want Moore directing the offense, Laloulu anchoring the line and young players proving they are ready for larger roles.
They want the defense to make them uncomfortable enough in August that they have answers in the fall.
And despite all the possibilities available to the man his players call a scientist, Mehringer keeps returning to something much simpler.
Get a little better every day.
Then earn it.