One of the most valuable and underrated facets of the coaching staff that Dan Lanning has built with the Oregon Ducks is that a lot of the members have NFL experience.
Former offensive line coach Adrian Klemm won Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and spent time coaching most recently with the Pittsburgh Steelers before coming to Eugene. Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi was with the Jacksonville Jaguars prior to accepting the job at Oregon.
Most recently, after Klemm left Eugene to go back to the NFL, landing a gig with the New England Patriots, Lanning brought in another coach from the NFL ranks — this time A’lique Terry, a former defensive line coach with the Minnesota Vikings.
While Terry most recently spent time coaching defense, he has a long history of coaching offensive linemen, which started with the Ducks as a graduate assist for Mario Cristobal.
Terry talked to media members on Friday and said that his time spent with the Vikings was incredibly valuable, if for no other reason than he got to see how NFL stars prepare and work hard to perfect their craft.
“You can start to see the difference in people at the next level,” Terry said. “You just assume the elite players are elite just because they’re elite. I got an in-depth look at Kirk Cousins and he’s exact same person every day in finding ways to try and better himself. I was telling those guys about Justin Jefferson. You think he just runs elite routes? Every single day he’s working on his releases. He’s competitive. That never stops.”
Of course, college players work hard, and the level of commitment has been instilled as a core tenant in the Ducks’ program. Still, though, you can understand that the commitment level would be upped once you get to the professional ranks.
One of the main goals of this coaching staff is getting their young players to realize that even at the college level, good enough is not going to cut it. In order to reach the heights that this team aspires, they are going to have to put in the extra work.
“For our guys to understand that once you get to this level, it’s not high school anymore. Everybody in our room is good,” Terry said. “You’re going to separate yourself with the minute details that somebody else may be forgetting. If you’re attacking it every single day, you’re separating yourself every single day and you’re not realizing it. More often than not, it’s about being consistent and disciplined in your processes. Once everybody is elite, you’ve got to be elite in your process. I think all our guys are trying to challenge each other on that.”
While the Ducks were successful in 2022 with a 10-3 record and a bowl game victory, the expectations are that much higher going into the second year under Dan Lanning and his staff. They will be up against the best competition in the Pac-12, and if they can come out victorious more often than not, it will show that the buy-in and commitment is there.