Oregon’s Dan Lanning: Contracts are ‘supposed to mean something’ in college sports
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As Oregon and Indiana prepared for this week’s Peach Bowl, an off-field story in the Big Ten is dominating headlines. Washington quarterback Demond Williams announced his plans to enter the transfer portal despite signing a new deal last week.
UW plans to enforce the deal, and On3’s Pete Nakos said the school also doesn’t intend to put Williams’ name in the portal because of the signed contract. The situation has led to questions about contracts in college sports, especially in the first year of the rev-share era.
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Speaking with reporters ahead of the Peach Bowl, Oregon coach Dan Lanning said his focus has been on the game – a rematch of the regular-season gam against Indiana. But with that, he called for contracts to “mean something” and be enforceable.
“It would be great. … Contracts, you’d love to say that they should be enforceable,” Lanning said during a Wednesday press conference. “At some point, we’ll see what that ends up looking like. But I think that’s the secret behind a contract is it’s supposed to mean something.”
During the same press conference, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti echoed Lanning’s sentiment about the focus on Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal. But he also said there’s plenty of work to do in the recruiting process as a whole.
“My focus is on our prep,” Cignetti said. “The only thing I’m going to say about all this stuff is obviously there’s a lot of loose ends, and it needs to be tied up in terms of the whole recruiting process. So there’s a lot of work to be done, and that’s one area.”
More on the Demond Williams situation
The Demond Williams situation has become the biggest story in college football after the transfer portal window opened. He put together a standout sophomore season at Washington after taking over as starting quarterback, throwing for 3,065 yards and 25 touchdowns while adding 611 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground.
This isn’t the first time a rev-share contract has been at the center of a transfer. Wisconsin sued Miami last year over tampering allegations after Xavier Lucas withdrew from school and transferred without entering the portal. On3’s Andy Staples broke down the difference with Williams’ announcement.
Sources emphasized to On3 that Williams is under contract at Washington. The Huskies also expect him to be their quarterback in 2026, and the school was set to make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in college football.
Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger added Washington has been in contact with the Big Ten about the situation. The conference drafts rev-share contracts for its league members, and UW described Williams’ deal as a binding agreement with the school. Dellenger also reported Washington suspects another school contacted Williams before his announcement.
Things took another turn on Thursday, though. Doug Hendrickson of Wasserman Sports announced he is no longer representing Williams, effective immediately. Hendrickson also reps Washington head coach Jedd Fisch.
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