What Dan Lanning had to say about the Oregon Ducks' 2026 signing class

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The Oregon Ducks had a great day on Wednesday, signing over 20 players to join the roster in Eugene and work towards the common goal of bringing a championship to the Pacific Northwest. While the day might have lacked the official fireworks that some fans were hoping for — though some are still very possible — Dan Lanning and his staff were able to sign a handful of 5-star players and keep all of the recruits who were committed to them coming into the day, signing what will be a third-straight top-5 ranked recruiting class.

At the moment, Oregon’s class ranks No. 2 in the nation, behind the USC Trojans. While there are still a couple of additions that may be made before all is said and done, the bulk of the work is out of the way for this staff.

On Wednesday night, Lanning met with media members to talk about his newest signees. Here’s what he had to say about them.

5-star EDGE Anthony Jones

“I don’t get to see a ton of games during the season. It was one of the games that I was able to go watch him play this year, which was a lot of fun to see the impact he can have on a game. You know, he’s been a guy that’s been used on defense, used in the backfield. Coach Lupoi, those guys have built unbelievable relationships, as well as several other people on our staff. And I think this was like a great example of a place being a dream school for a player that really came to fruition for Tank and what he’s going to be able to accomplish here, but just again, an unbelievable player that said, “Hey, I don’t care that. It’s not closed, right? Like, if this is the place that fits me. That’s where I want to be.”

5-star OL Immanuel Iheanacho and 4-star OL Tommy Tofi

“Yeah, these guys are super athletic. They’re guys we’ve been recruiting for a really, really long time. You know, we think they both can play tackle, but they do certainly have position versatility; they’re both guys that, talk about recruiting for a long time, I mean, remember seeing Tommy in a camp, you know, three years ago. And same thing really, with Manny in that situation, we spent a lot of time traveling to camp, seeing guys in action. Those relationships start then, then it becomes, you know, the body of work, of building that relationship and seeing what it grows into, and making sure you’re still, you know, through that entire process, these are guys that can play for you at a high level, and we feel really confident in guys like that.”

5-star WR Gatlin Bair

“It’s been somewhat limited, but there’s been some opportunities in there that we could and there’s still been great communication with Brad and Shea and his family, the ability to connect from time to time. But elder Bear’s been doing the mission, and he’s done an unbelievable job of that, but we’ve been able to stay in touch, whether through email, the occasional opportunity to touch base with the people he’s around, and really excited to get him here. That’s one that he signed several years ago, and now you know, you get the opportunity to have them here. I’m really excited about what Gatlin can do.”

5-star S Jett Washington

“Yeah, I think the options are limitless. When you see a player of Jett’s ability. He’s got great ball instincts, he can attack. He’s a physical hitter. You know, you look at a lot of things that we were able to do with Dillon Thieneman this year. I think Jett translates to a lot of that stuff really well as well, but ultimately, just a really great program there, Bishop Gorman, that’s turned out a lot of phenomenal players, a lot of success. The guy knows what it means to be a winner, right? And you want guys in your program that know what it means to be a winner. He comes from a family of athletes, so I’m just excited to see what he’s able to do here.”

4-star RB Tradarian Ball

“You’re always trying to add great players. And then I think the best coaches adapt your system to fit great players. We played more 21 personnel this year than I’ve ever played, you know, in my time here. And that’s credit to us having, really, talented players here that can do that. Tradarian is definitely a guy that fits that, you can you can flex them out and throw in the ball, he can run it from the backfield. He has versatility, and that makes them harder to defend.”

4-star DL Tony Cumberland

“This group looks different right now compared to today than it did, you know, come June, and I think Tony’s a great example of a guy who knew what he wanted. It’s been really fun watching Tony grow up and become the man that we’re all excited to see. But obviously, he’s an unbelievable player and an unbelievable talent that has done big things here locally, and I’m excited to see that show up on our field, but we’re really grateful for guys like Tony.”

4-star LB Tristan Phillips

“Tristan is a guy that reminds me a little bit of guy you guys are all familiar with in Bryce Boettcher, just as far as how much he loves the game of football, how intense he plays, the level of intensity that he enjoys training. Works extremely hard, you know. So he has all those traits that you’re hoping that you see, you know, in a linebacker. And obviously, he’s had a great season. I’m glad that he’s gonna get to be a part of what we’re doing here.”

4-star QB Bryson Beaver

“You know, quarterback is always unique position, getting to see him, throw in person, I think is always a big piece of that, trusting your evaluation skills. And this is a guy that obviously got really hot towards the end, and had a lot of opportunities in places that he can go. But you fall in love with the family, you know, Bryson’s got an unbelievable group around him. And then you really get to recognize the arm talent, the things that exist there. They’re going to be beneficial in a piece that you want your program. And then the ability to mentally handle the load that we ask for our quarterbacks to handle. There’s a lot that goes into that, and he’s a guy to check those boxes.”

CB Azel Banag, WR Hudson Lewis, and CB Trevon Watson

“They’re all guys that we identified earlier. There’s guys that we rather pull the trigger on later, knowing that we want to make sure we had a great opportunity. It’s not like you want to alert the rest of the world what your intentions are necessarily with some guys you’re looking at. And then it’s always the constant evaluation of, okay, what’s our roster gonna look like in the future here as well? Where do we need to grow? What attrition might exist? You know, there’s always attrition every year, so I think you pay attention all those details, making sure you don’t oversign, where you don’t have enough opportunities for the people that you bring on the team.”

This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dan Lanning breaks down Oregon Ducks’ 2026 signing class

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