“He let me know what back drills are supposed to look like” Oregon HC Dan Lanning recalls the ‘biggest a*s chewing’ he received was from Nick Saban

Former Alabama HC Nick Saban is popular for his 'a*s chewing' moments with staff, players and even journalists, which includes a story about Dan Lanning. Talking about a similar incident with Saban, Lanning opened up about his time working with the Crimson Tide as GA when Saban lost his cool on him:

"We were running kids camp," said Lanning. "And we must have been working with like seven eight-year-old kids, right, but he ran kids camp like we're running Alabama training camp. I get there kind of late and I'm kind of just learning the process. I'm a little bit of a fly on the wall and one of our strength coaches is running back drills and he leaves.

"So I just start doing back drills like I did at Parkhill South or like I did at Sam Houston State and I was not doing back drills right. Coach Saban came over and it happened to be a day that Paul Finebaum was following around. He let me know what back drills are supposed to look like.

"It was a great example of how everything mattered to him. It didn't matter, we were coaching eight-year-olds. It mattered that you were doing the drill right. So I stood up at night and watched every drill to make sure I had a master just in case I got thrown in the fire." (1:56:00)

Dan Lanning and his attempts at making Oregon a top contender

Oregon will be competing in the Big Ten for the first time in 2024. Dan Lanning did a great job of building a powerful team ahead of the 2024 college football season.

One of the biggest questions that everybody had towards the end of the 2023 season was: How is Dan Lanning going to replace Bo Nix?

The Oregon HC responded by creating one of the deepest quarterback units in the country, with former Oklahoma star Dillon Gabriel as his QB1 and former 5-star QB Dante Moore as his backup.

Last season, Dillon booked 30 touchdowns and threw for 3,660 yards. During the 2024 spring game, Gabriel threw two touchdowns and completed 14 out of 21 passes for 163 yards.

Oregon also had a late but impactful entry of one of the best defensive tackles in the country, Michigan State's Derrick Harmon.

After Oregon's electrifying performance during the spring game, the Ducks have become one of the favorites to win the national championship, along with Kirby Smart's Georgia and Ohio State.