Oregon
Dan Lanning weighs impact of familiarity with Jonathan Smith, Aidan Chiles on Oregon-Michigan State game
After a rough first two weeks of the season, during which Oregon struggled with FCS Idaho and then brushed with defeat against Boise State, the Ducks have found their groove. They’ve done so versus familiar faces, starting with an unusually-early game against the Pac-12’s Oregon State in Corvallis. Then they went to the Rose Bowl and took care of Pac-12-turned-Big Ten foe UCLA.
Although head coach Dan Lanning and his sixth-ranked Oregon squad will take its first real Big Ten plunge Friday night against longstanding conference member Michigan State, the Ducks will, again, get a taste of their old league in the process.
That’s because the Spartans are coached by Jonathan Smith and quarterbacked by Aidan Chiles, both of whom were previously at Oregon State.
“Yeah, I think it probably gives a benefit to both teams,” Lanning said Friday afternoon on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” when asked about the familiarity he has with Smith.
“Jonathan runs an unbelievable program. He’s done a really good job there. He continues to be aggressive and gives you pictures that are different from some other teams you’re going to see. But then he has that same thing that he’s going to see with us. So there’s a little bit of give and take where you can prepare for each other. But he’s got a new team, and we have a different team here as well.”
Smith posted a 25-13 record, including a 16-11 mark in Pac-12 play, over his final three seasons at Oregon State. That stretch included a 38-34 win over Lanning’s Ducks in 2022.
Chiles, however, didn’t start a game in his lone season at Oregon State. He arrived as the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 12 quarterback in the 2023 class and sat behind then-Beavers starter DJ Uiagalalei. That said, Chiles threw completed 24-of-35 passes with four touchdowns and no picks, plus three rushing scores, in nine games of action as a true freshman.
He followed Smith to Michigan State, where he became QB1 and has experienced a roller coaster start to his sophomore campaign. The Spartans are 3-2 with a Big Ten road win over Maryland under their belt. But Chiles has already thrown eight interceptions, as opposed to just five touchdowns, while completing only 56.3% of his passes. He’s been up and down, at times flashing great passing ability downfield, not to mention his three additional rushing touchdowns so far in 2024.
“Well, he’s a talented player, and he probably throws the ball down the field as well as anybody right now in college football,” Lanning said Friday, when discussing Chiles on “SportsCenter.”
“And he’s really elusive with his feet. What we have to do is try to be advantageous when the ball’s in the air, take advantage of some of those opportunities when they do throw it and try to go attack it.”
Michigan State is coming off a 38-7 loss to Ohio State. Oregon will face the Buckeyes next week — that’s when the Ducks’ run of strong Pac-12 ties will come to an end.
The Jets, with their 16th pick of Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft, might have been tempted to move up to grab one of the set of hands that appealed to them in this draft class. But the Green & White remained patient and stayed put at 16 and were rewarded by being able to select Kenyon Sadiq, the draft’s top tight end out of Oregon.
“It’s unreal, man. Need to be the Jets. It’s special,” said Sadiq of being selected 16th overall and by the Green & White. “My sister currently lives in New York, so I’m happy to get down there. But great interactions with all the staff, in meetings and everything. So I’m beyond excited, super grateful.
“David Bailey said it already,” Sadiq added about Bailey, the Texas Tech edge taken second overall. “This organization is trending in the right direction. And I’m just a piece that can help and I’m ready to help. Whatever the team needs me to do, I’m going to do it.”
Sadiq, known by some as “Sadiq the Freak,” put his athleticism and receiving skills on full display last season with an Oregon single-season tight ends record of 51 catches for 560 yards and 8 receiving touchdowns, which led all FBS tight ends. He was named a second-team All-American and the Big Ten TE of the Year and was a finalist for the John Mackey Award, which goes to the nation’s top tight.
After the season’s end, Sadiq went to the NFL Combine in February and demonstrated some of that freakishness in dominating his position. He turned in a 4.39-second 40, best among TEs not only this year but for the past 14 Combines. He also notched a 43.5-inch vertical leap, an 11-1 broad jump and 26 reps in the bench press, all second at his position.
“I’ve got all the attributes,” he told the Jets media Thursday. “I mean, the Combine showed that.”
Sadiq joins a tight ends room that is now brimming with talent. Mason Taylor, last year’s second-rounder (42nd overall) out of LSU and Jeremy Ruckert, their 2022 third-rounder (101st) are already there and the group will be helpful not only to new/old veteran starting QB Geno Smith but also the Breece Hall-lead running game.
What exactly will Sadiq add to the room, the offense and the ’26 Green & White?
“I think it’s versatility, speed and toughness, bro, seriously,” he said. “I think I can help in the running and passing game on top of that. I’m sure I’m on special teams as well. That’s what I did at Oregon, and that’s what I’ll continue to do. I can create separation, but I can also go hit someone. Obviously, the NFL is different. I’m going to have to clean some things up. But, man, I’m going to go hit somebody. I’m not going to be scared.”
Sadiq is only the fourth Oregon player to be drafted by the Jets and the first in 20 years, since QB Kellen Clemens came to the Green & White in 2006 in Round 2. Other Ducks to become Jets through the draft were DB Reggie Grant in Round 9 of the 1978 draft and TE Blake Spence in the fifth round in 1998.
And the choice may well extend the Green & White’s track record of taking good to very good TEs in Round 1. Johnny Mitchell got the ball rolling in 1992 and was followed by Kyle Brady in 1996, Anthony Becht in 2000 and Dustin Keller in 2008.
The good times keep on rolling for the Oregon Ducks in the recruiting world. Dan Lanning and the Ducks scored a massive commitment from five-star quarterback Will Mencl out of Chandler, Arizona.
Oregon had been rumored to be leading the race for Mencl’s services for months, but the No. 1 quarterback in the country, per Rivals, cleared the air and committed to the Ducks on Wednesday evening. Mencl chose the Ducks over Auburn and Penn State, both of which battled hard for him down the stretch.
However, Mencl has been connected to Oregon for a long time. While he was offered last fall before breaking out in his junior season, Mencl has been a fan of the program long before he popped up on the Ducks’ recruiting radar. In a post shared by Rivals recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong, Mencl was announced as a quarterback for the Ducks when he was a kid at the 2019 NFL Draft fan experience in 2019.
Now, Mencl is ready to don the green and yellow for real and make his childhood dreams come true. The Ducks have made a point to get Mencl on campus as often as possible and as recently as last week. The continued connection between both sides is ultimately what made the decision easy for the nation’s top passer. Mencl said he told Lanning and the Oregon staff about his decision on Sunday.
“The biggest thing was the relationship with the staff,” Mencl said after committing. “I feel like that continued to grow over time, especially when I first got there last spring. Being able to sit down with Coach Koa, really being an underlooked guy at that time, and kind of blowing up my junior season. And then, the path to the NFL. You can’t deny what they do with quarterbacks and the type of scheme they run. I felt like that was the best fit for me and my family to get to the next level.”
Koa Ka’ai, Oregon’s new quarterback coach, made waves earlier in the offseason after his recruiting test about ice cream flavors went viral, but that doesn’t appear to have scared Mencl off. In fact, the two have a close connection that Oregon hopes will translate to success on the field in the near future.
“My relationship with Coach Koa, I feel like that is super, super strong,” Mencl told Rivals. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with Coach Lanning about the culture there and how they’re going to continue to sustain greatness throughout the program.”
Mencl exploded onto the national recruiting scene with a massive junior season for Chandler. He completed more than 70% of his passes for 3,815 yards and 33 touchdowns against five interceptions in his junior season, leading Chandler to a state title berth. He also rushed for 741 yards and an additional 17 touchdowns.
The Ducks expect to have some competition for Mencl to compete with when he joins the team for the 2027 season, with Dylan Raiola and Akili Smith Jr. already on the roster and competing for a role as the backup. Oregon has gone to the transfer portal as well in recent seasons, finding success with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and now Dante Moore.
Oregon has recruited well at quarterback in the past, establishing an NFL pedigree that attracted Mencl. Maybe he will be the one to buck the trend and give the Ducks a true, homegrown product under center.
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