Top storylines to follow as Oregon Ducks enter 2026 offseason

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While the Oregon Ducks may not like it, the 2026 offseason is here, and after a tough finish to the season on Friday night in the Peach Bowl, Dan Lanning and his staff have officially turned the page to next year and are building out a roster for the future.

That is evident in the number of transfer portal visitors in town this weekend.

With Oregon now focused on the offseason and the change that will come with it, expect a lot of news over the next few days and a few weeks. Without prep for a national championship game on the docket, the Ducks will now dive deeper into the portal, evaluate the coaching staff, and get the board set for 2026.

So what are the major storylines that you should be following over the next couple of days and weeks? Here’s what we have our eyes on.

Where Do NFL Decisions Leave The Roster?

At this point, the biggest item of business for the Ducks is figuring out which veteran players are going, and which ones are staying. We already know that Bear Alexander and Iapani Laloulu are coming back, but there are a number of other upper-classmen with major decisions to make.

At the top of the list is QB Dante Moore. Some major dominoes will fall based on his decision, not only for Oregon, but in the transfer portal as a whole. If Moore returns, then the Ducks enter the 2026 season arguably as one of the favorites to win the national championship. If he leaves, then the Ducks need to get aggressive in the portal.

There are also guys like Kenyon Sadiq, A’Mauri Washington, Matayo Uiagalelei, Teitum Tuioti, and Dillon Theineman who all have major decisions to make. Any number of them could go to the NFL and likely be first, second, or third-round picks. They all could potentially return for one more year as well and run it back with the Ducks.

Depending on what they decide, the Ducks will then have a better idea of what holes they need to fill on the roster going forward in the transfer portal. Over the next week, it will be very crucial to see what gets announced.

How Aggressive is the Transfer Push?

By all means, the Ducks don’t have many glaring needs in the portal this year. Depending on what guys like Dante Moore and Dillon Theineman do, you may need a quarterback and a safety. Outside of that, Oregon will likely add a middle linebacker, a tackle, a backup running back, a cornerback/nickel safety, and potentially a wide receiver.

Now that the season is over, Oregon has more time to put into the portal players. I’m curious to see what type of blitz we see here. Already on Saturday, there are a handful of high-profile players reportedly on campus for visits, and that will likely continue over the next few days.

Do these visits result in commitments? How quickly do we start to see Oregon’s 2026 roster fill out? Don’t be surprised to see this news pick up in the next 24-48 hours.

Who Follows Tosh Lupoi and Will Stein?

With the season now over, both Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi are off, their Oregon careers behind them. Stein put out a heartfelt message to Oregon fans on Saturday, but both his and Lupoi’s attention is now solely focused on their new jobs.

It might also be focused on which Oregon players they can bring along with them to Kentucky and California.

When it comes to evaluation, there are guys that Stein and Lupoi undoubtedly have great looks at, and a desire to bring with them. We’ve already seen a guy like Kingston Lopa commit to the Golden Bears, following Lupoi, and others could certainly follow. The same goes for Stein, who could bring any number of reserve Ducks with him to Lexington. The next few days will be telling when it comes to the depth in Eugene, and who wants a fresh start with their former coach.

The Looming Coordinator Announcement

It’s been over a month since Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi were announced as the new head coaches of their respective programs. And yet, Oregon has still not officially announced its replacements. It has been reported that Chris Hampton is being promoted to DC, and Drew Mehringer to OC, but now that the season is finished, when will we see that become finalized? Are we positive those are still the moves that will be made?

I feel confident that Hampton will be made official soon. As soon as Lupoi took the Cal job, Hampton was the obvious replacement, and it was expected that he would be promoted. However, Mehringer’s reported promotion came as a bit of a surprise, with many — myself included — expecting Lanning to go with an outside hire.

Might he still? Could the Mehringer “report” have been something that helped ease tensions on National Signing Day and in early transfer portal recruiting? It’s too early to say, but I’m not 100% certain that the Ducks have finalized their OC hire and are just waiting for a formalized announcement. In the next few days, we should find out for sure, though.

The 2026 Big Ten Schedule

On December 11, 2024, the Big Ten Conference released the full schedule for 2025, giving us dates for every conference game of the season. We are now well into January of 2026, and there has still not been a schedule release for the conference.

I’m not sure what the holdup is this time around, but it’s fair to think that the conference can’t wait too much longer before making things official and getting the full schedule out there. While we know the opponents that Oregon will play next year, and where those games will be played, getting them down on the calendar and figuring out bye weeks and travel schedules is going to be imperative over the next couple of weeks.

A Potential Philosophy Change

We already talked about coordinator announcements, but it’s going to be interesting to watch other coaching hires over the next couple of weeks as well. Both Stein and Lupoi are expected to take some coaches and personnel guys with them to their respective schools, so Lanning will need to fill out his staff.

It’s going to be interesting if he goes with the same philosophy of identifying and targeting young, up-and-coming coaches with a bright future, or if he might change things up for a time. After back-to-back blowout losses in the College Football Playoff, many fans have argued that Lanning’s staff might benefit from a veteran coach to help guide things, someone who has been around the block and seen a thing or two. Might Lanning go after an experienced passing-game coordinator who can help usher along the new OC — whether Mehringer or someone else — into the post Will Stein era?

New hires are always fun to watch, but the age of these hires is something that I am particularly interested in.

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Top Oregon Ducks storylines to follow after end of 2025 season

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