Oregon’s latest recruiting loss to Georgia reinforces what Dan Lanning will never be able to overcome as the Ducks head coach originally appeared on A to Z Sports.
The Oregon Ducks have held up reasonably well in recruiting battles despite having the unique challenge of being in the forest of the Pacific Northwest. Their 2026 class has high peaks to help overcome a frustrating set of misses and flips that went against Dan Lanning’s group.
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While Oregon has a ton of positives going for it, including their exclusive Nike connection, fat NIL pockets, a beautiful campus, strong NFL pipeline, and more, the Big Ten champion is still facing demons when going up against Lanning’s previous stop in the SEC.
Oregon lost another stud this week as four-star linebacker Nick Abrams opted to go to Georgia. The Maryland native was also looking at Maryland and Alabama, but it was down to Oregon and the Bulldogs.
Losing out to Georgia isn’t a huge deal in itself. Oregon has done as well as anyone getting high-end linebackers into their program and maximizing their talent over time. But the why they missed on Abrams is especially scary if you’re Lanning.
On3’s Chad Simmons correctly projected Abrams to go to Georgia, but it’s notable why Abrams opted against Oregon.
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“Abrams loves SEC football. Georgia has produced multiple NFL linebackers under Kirby Smart and three have won the Butkus Award in his time as the head coach in Athens. Dan Lanning coached under Smart at Georgia, he helped develop some of the top linebackers and now the head coach at Oregon is battling his old boss for one of the top defenders this cycle.”
Lanning has done his best to modernize Oregon into a Western version of Georgia with twists, but the Ducks will rarely win that battle when kids have the option of simply going to the SEC. Now, that interest won’t always be there, or playing time will matter, or the compensation packages will vary, so Oregon can still win a ton of battles.
But when given the chance and all else is equal, Lanning will have a tough time in these situations.
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This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
