Tag: Drew Mehringer

Drew Mehringer discusses Matayo Uiagalelei, Ducks’ TE room depth

Drew Mehringer discusses Matayo Uiagalelei, Ducks’ TE room depth

During the spring football season in Eugene, an injury to starting tight end Terrance Ferguson caused a little bit of unease for the Oregon Ducks. With Ferguson out, the depth at the position was waning. Patrick Herbert and true freshman Kenyon Sadiq were the only scholarship players suited up in that spot during the spring game.

Fortunately, the Ducks had true freshman EDGE Matayo Uiaglelei that they could lean on as well. At 6-foot-5, 265 pounds, Uiagalelei excelled as a pass-catcher in high school. Though he came to Oregon as an elite pass-rusher, but his versatility allowed the Ducks to plug him into the offense for a few plays during the annual scrimmage.

Since then, Ferguson has come back healthy, and Oregon has added a handful of depth pieces at TE, including Ole Miss transfer Casey Kelly. So does that mean that Uiagalelei will no longer see both sides of the ball?

TE coach Drew Mehringer was asked that question on Wednesday after practice. He said that unfortunately may be the case right now, but not by his own desire.

“He’s an impressive individual. I think if you wanted him to play quarterback, he could probably figure out a way to do it,” Mehringer said. “He’s super smart and super tough. If I had the option to keep him out there a little bit more, I probably would.”

It’s not strange to see a handful of players excel at multiple positions. A couple of years ago, we saw DJ Johnson play both DE and TE for the Ducks, and the previous decade saw Charles Nelson play both DB and WR as well.

However, when you get a true freshman that comes in and is trying to learn the playbook, it can be a bit of an overload to have him try and double his knowledge intake. Because of that, it would be a surprise to see Uiagalelei on the offensive side of the ball any time soon.

“He’s digesting the entirety of a pretty complex defense,” Mehringer said. “You can’t stunt him on one side or slow him down, just to say we’re going to do something else with him. I’m sure we’ll find something to do with him, but we feel pretty good with where we’re at tight end depth-wise as well.”

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Early transfer portal options for the Ducks to consider at TE position

The Ducks need to add at least one TE via the transfer portal. There aren’t a ton of great options available, but here are some guys Oregon could look at.

At this point in the offseason, we can feel confident that the Oregon Ducks are going to add a player or two at the tight end position via the transfer portal. Going into spring ball, the Ducks had just three scholarship players in the TE room, and the top player on the depth chart — Terrance Ferguson — was just declared out for the rest of the spring season with an injury.

So what started as a position of need has now turned into a near-emergency situation for Dan Lanning and his staff.

On Saturday when talking to TE coach Drew Mehringer, he all-but confirmed that the team would look to the transfer portal to find a player or two that can contribute at the position.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to figure something out with that,” Mehringer said. “I’ve been talking with Lanning and Will [Stein] and have a really good plan going forward for that, but we’d like to get somebody else in who can help us, if you know what I mean.”

The portal officially opened again on Saturday, and a ton of players have already declared that they will be looking for a new team. While there aren’t a ton of high-end tight ends available at the moment, we went through and looked at some players who Oregon could potentially look at and try to add this offseason.

As more tight ends become available in the portal, we will keep an eye out and add them to the list.

Here are some names to know at the moment.

Drew Mehringer talks Terrance Ferguson, Kenyon Sadiq, and Oregon’s talented TE room

Following Saturday’s scrimmage, Drew Mehringer talked TE depth, and a lot about the upside of freshman Kenyon Sadiq.

As spring practice continues on in Eugene, we’ve had the opportunity to talk to more coaches on the roster outside of head coach Dan Lanning.

On Saturday, it was time to talk to tight ends coach Drew Mehringer, who was made available for the first time since last fall. There was a lot to talk about, including what took place in the scrimmage that the Ducks went through on Saturday morning in Autzen Stadium.

On top of that, Mehringer has a talented group of TEs, though short on scholarship depth. We discussed that, and what its been like working with Will Stein as the new offensive coordinator. Here are some of the best quotes from that conversation.

Lanning: Search for new offensive coordinator is winding down

Oregon’s search for a new offensive coordinator is winding down, but Dan Lanning isn’t ready to make that announcement yet.

As soon as former offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham was named head coach at Arizona State, the speculation began for his replacement.

It’s been nearly two weeks and according to Orgon head coach Dan Lanning, the search for that replacement is close to a conclusion.

But he’s not quite ready for that big announcement.

“It’s going really well. I’d love to sit here and say I can tell you an announcement right now. I’m not ready to be in that position,” Lanning said in his press conference concerning Oregon’s invitation to the Holiday Bowl to play North Carolina. “But we are getting close. I feel that the interest in this job is obviously extreme. And you get an opportunity to be thorough and diligent as you go through that process and look for opportunities to answer them.

When Lanning was hired last year, he was able to put together an impressive group of coaches and many of them are qualified to replace Dillingham.

“I’ll also tell you that we have some phenomenal coaches here on our staff that are certainly qualified to be the offensive coordinator here. And that’s something that we’ll definitely explore every opportunity here as we move forward and what that will look like.”

One thing is for sure. One of those assistants will be the OC for the bowl game. Lanning said having a brand new voice come in and run the offense in wouldn’t be fair or even feasible.

“I’m not going to ask anybody to come in right now and call the bowl game. I don’t think that’s fair to bring a brand new coach and ask them to call the bowl game when there’s terminology and some differences there,” he said. “That being said, Drew Mehringer or Junior Adams, Adrian Klemm, Carlos Locklyn, our offensive staff will prep us. Jordan Somerville will prep us as we move into the bowl game and be ready to take on the bowl game and compete with some of that same terminology and things that we’ve attacked this season.”

One huge advantage the Ducks will have is the guy receiving the snap from center. Quarterback Bo Nix will play Dec. 28 against the Tar Heels. It was speculated that Nix might forgo his remaining eligibility and declare for the NFL draft. While he might still do that, that particular announcement will have to wait until the Holiday Bowl concludes.

Hopefully with a win.

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As Week 1 approaches, Oregon’s comfortability in Kenny Dillingham’s offense takes root

There’s a lot to learn in Kenny Dillingham’s new scheme, but Oregon’s offense feels comfortable and confident.

A new coaching staff, a new quarterback, and a new offense. That’s a lot for a relatively young team to be dealing with in the confines of a single offense, and when you’re being asked to nail it all down before taking on the defending national champions in the first game of the season, it can be a lot to handle.

As the Oregon Ducks cross the two-week mark until their kick-off game against the Georgia Bulldogs, though, the offensive side of the ball seems confident that they’ve got things under control. There remains no public answer as to who the starting QB will be, but with Kenny Dillingham running the show on the offensive side of the ball, comfortability has started to take root.

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“I think we’re comfortable,” said wide receiver’s coach Junior Adams. “I can say going through spring ball, the summer workouts, the player-led practices, I think guys took really good leadership and teaching themselves the offense. And then obviously going through day 16 of camp, everyone’s got a pretty good understanding of what’s going on.”

The Oregon offense is expected to look vastly different from what we’ve seen in recent years. No longer are the Ducks planning to be a run-heavy team that personifies their former offensive lineman of a head coach and pounds the ball between the tackles 35-plus times per game. Instead, Duck fans have been sold a scheme that will continually take shots downfield and put the ball in the hands of playmakers, letting them go to work.

Dillingham — or ‘Dilly’ as many coaches and players call him — the former offensive coordinator at Florida State, is the genius behind this operation, but he’s enlisted the help of numerous forward-thinking coaches — like Adams — that can help put his vision on the field.

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“Dilly’s done a great job with our unit,” said tight end coach Drew Mehringer. “And you know, I think the collection of coaches that he has working for him is really good and I think the players have really, really bought into what we’re doing. We have a pretty good idea of, you know, getting a feel for ‘Hey, in this situation, this is what Dilly likes and you know, this matches our personnel’ and stuff like that. So I feel really good about where we’re at from my standpoint.”

There are still a lot of unknowns about the offense, such as the aforementioned unsettled QB competition, or how widespread the running back usage will be. Those are answers that we might not get until the afternoon of September 3. However, it feels pretty unanimous that the scheme that Dillingham has put into place in Eugene is being received well.

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Report: Oregon set to hire New Mexico’s Drew Mehringer as tight ends coach

It looks like Drew Mehringer is coming to Eugene as the new TE coach for the Ducks. In 2019, Mehringer was voted the National Recruiter of the Year by @Rivals.

The morning after their 2021 football season officially came to an end, the Oregon Ducks made a flurry of reported coaching moves. One of the more intriguing hires is tight ends coach Drew Mehringer, who has spent the last several seasons with New Mexico, FAU, Texas, and Rutgers. Mehringer has spent time working with wide receivers and quarterbacks and was the offensive coordinator with Rutgers in 2016.

As is a common trend with recent Oregon coaching hires, Mehringer was named the Rivals National Recruiter of the Year in 2019, and he will bring a huge value to the offensive staff over the next several years where the Ducks already have a load of young talent at the TE position, with both Terrance Ferguson and Moliki Matavao getting great experience as freshmen.

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