Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer is in his first fall camp in his new position with the Ducks, but he has been in Eugene to witness firsthand how quarterback Dante Moore has developed at Oregon.

Moore returns to a familiar role as the Ducks' starting quarterback, and even though Mehringer has entered a new role, he pointed out the biggest change that he's seen in Moore. See what the Oregon offensive coordinator had to say about Moore, the Ducks wide receivers, and being called a scientist by some of his players.

On Dante Moore's Growth:

"I think the area that Dante has grown the most is in leadership, right? And I think for him, two years ago, it's not his team. Even for Poncho (Iapani Laloulu), guys like Poncho it's still not not really his team. And guys like that have grown into those roles, and they are the standard for the way that things operate. So I think his biggest growth in development has been in his leadership role and the way that he pushes guys outside. And not just does it with his words, does it with his actions," said Mehringer.

"Like he'll be the first one at a signal meeting, right? It's really designed for young guys, new guys that haven't been around. But he'll be there, right? And he'll make sure that freshmen are there. So for that, I think the skills, like the tangible skills that you see on tape, yeah, all of those like he pushes, he grows, all that stuff."

"But playing that position so much more than just taking a snap, handing it off or throwing a slant. You're the heartbeat, foundation. You're the spark of what's going to happen. And we saw it in big games last year, and I think we'll continue to see him grow. His understanding and knowledge is fantastic. You know, some of the best I've ever been around," Mehringer continued.

On 'The Scientist' Label:

"That's news to me. I think it's cool that the players have respect for what you know. I didn't know that until now. But I think that we're all just trying to do the best we can to put them in the best position possible and continue to educate them on more than just what they do on any given play, but how the game works. And what can prepare them to play at the next level and play for as long as they possibly can," said Mehringer.

"So, I think anything like that, you know, it's great. Just gotta go out and get a little bit better every day and keep teaching them to keep growing."

How Far the Offense Has Progressed:

"Complexity is a little bit of a double-edged sword, right? So every single year, there's gonna be, especially in this day and age of college football, there's always gonna be new new faces. And you can be super complex, but you it's a little bit of a balance, I guess. It's at at the expense of what? You could run 100 million plays, how many reps you gonna get all those plays, so how well do you think they're gonna get executed in the game?"

"So it's it's our job as coaches to create that balance to where we're not running the same play every single time, and everybody in Autzen Stadium knows exactly what play is coming, much less the defense. But make sure that we get the reps necessary so that when we do play in Autzen Stadium and we call that play, the players know how to execute it versus the myriad defenses they could see and certainly our defenses gives us a lot of those looks already, so they do a lot of stuff."

On the Youth in Oregon's Wide Receiver Room:

"I think that coach Douglas, Ross has done an unbelievable job of bringing in good players. We tell everybody that if you're good enough, you're old enough. There are no jobs that have been solidified or anything like that, you got to go out and earn it every single day. There's been plenty of examples throughout the history of sports and in any other industry, I would assume, right?"

"We use the the Wally Pipp story quite a bit and say, 'Hey, you think you can take a day off? You know, and Lou Gehrig may take your job and may never give it back.' So, it's a meritocracy. You gotta go out and earn it, and I think that we have good culture here on the entire organization, to where guys feel that and they push and they push each other. Even so much so that they want the other side of the ball to push them, which I think is cool."

"So for the young guys in the wide receiver room, I think they gotta continue to grow and see where they're at. I think that at this point still in fall camp, right now, they just came off a great summer. Wilson Love did an unreal job with those guys. I mean, they look completely different which is awesome to see. I mean, it's a testament to him and what the players did over the summer. But I think we'll have a better understanding of where we're at probably, in a week or so to figure that out."

On Iverson 'Strap' Hooks

"We brought Strap (Iverson Hooks) here because he's a good player, right? It's not that, he's got to climb a mountain. You know, it's not like me going out there trying to crack the the depth chart for the Oregon Ducks wide receiver room. Scout team forever over here, you know what I mean? But Strap's a great player."

"I think too we do a little bit more than he was doing from what I gather, from what he's told me. And he's continuing to grow in this offense, and I think that he makes plays for us. He does out there, and so we're excited about where he's at, and like I said, he's got like everybody else, he's got to continue to grow him. But he's in a great spot, and if he keeps pushing, I think that he'll help us a lot this year."

On How He Feels About His New Role:

"I think I have a better understanding of who we are, what we can do at this moment. I do think there's obviously a a clear transition from my role last year to what it is this year. Just the general organization of a lot of people is more of a task that I thought it would be, to be honest. But it's great, and we have an unbelievable offensive staff that takes a lot of charge, and I don't have to worry about as much things as you maybe think that I would."

"So I'm unbelievably thankful for them, but yeah, I think that me and Hamp (Chris Hampton) are are growing and getting better. And like we talked about it as a staff, you know, when we're watching practice tape: 'These are the two things that I messed up in practice, right? These are the two things that I gotta get better at.' And it's cool sharing ideas with him, 'Hey, this is hard for us. All right, let's do something with that, right?'"

"And the same thing vice versa. So we can challenge each other to have better answers, so by the time we come and play this thing live, I think we can be as good as we possibly can be," Mehringer said.

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