Dan Lanning updates Oregon’s punting competition

The Oregon Ducks are looking to build on last season’s run to a Big Ten Championship and, ultimately, the College Football Playoff. With that, head coach Dan Lanning is evaluating every position on the field, which has now led to an interesting punting competition in Fall Camp.

That punting competition appears to be between the incumbent, Ross James, and transfer James Ferguson-Reynolds. Now, with Week 1 here in college football, Lanning shared where that competition stands going into the season.

“Great competition,” Dan Lanning said. “Both guys have done a really good job and have stepped up. I think our punt locations, which is as big of an issue as anything, has really stepped up. But both of them have had great kicks throughout scrimmage, throughout Fall Camp.”

Ross James took care of the primary punting duties for Oregon. He’d find himself on the Ray Guy Award watchlist. In that time, he had 37 punts for a total of 1,682 yards. That’s 45.5 yards per punt. That was actually slightly down from 2023, when he averaged 48.4 yards per punt.

Last season, James has a career long of 69 yards on a punt. On top of that, he also had seven of his punts end up inside the 20-yard line.

Dan Lanning and Oregon hit the transfer portal to bring in competition for Ross James. Australian native James Ferguson-Reynolds spent the last three seasons at Boise State. There, he was a standout, receiving numerous honors. That included being an All-Mountain West selection.

Last season, James Ferguson-Raynolds punted the ball 43 times. He’d average 43.5 yards per punt for the season. He did that with a long of 68 yards and while landing 16 punts inside the 20-yards line.

Dan Lanning will need to decide about Oregon’s punting situation soon. The Ducks open the 2025 season on August 30th against Montana State.

Dan Lanning shares where his confidence in new Oregon players comes from this season

In his time at Oregon, Dan Lanning has often pulled players from the Transfer Portal. That can be a difficult transition to manage, but one that he’s worked hard to get right while with the Ducks.

“That’s what we have to figure out. But you look at competitive sports, you look at guys that have a lot of success, and a lot of it comes on with competition anxiety, right? And then lack of confidence, that’s where people fail. So, our goal within fall camp is, how can we create the same anxiety you have on game day? How can we make practice look as much as possible like a game, and how can we build confidence in what guys do well?'” Lanning said.

“That’s part of our job as coaches. It’s about having belief in players that the next play is the most important play. And our guys when they get their fuel from internally, intrinsically, rather than externally. I think that’s when they perform their best. So that’s really the goal this fall.”