5 Takeaways: Football Spring Game

Saturday, April 25

Eugene, OR

1:00 PM

University of Oregon

Spring Game

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

04/25/26 | Football

The Ducks held their annual scrimmage to cap spring practice Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

EUGENE, Ore. — Officially, homecoming is slated for a fall date on the football schedule. But Saturday sure felt like a homecoming for the Oregon football program.

When the Ducks took the field for their Spring Game, alums Penei Sewell, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Tez Johnson and Deommodore Lenoir were serving as honorary coaches. Recent and newly selected NFL Draft picks also were on the sideline, including linebacker Bryce Boettcher, not long after the Eugene native had been taken by the Indianapolis Colts.

And in the stands were some 46,500 fans taking the chance for a homecoming to their favorite cathedral of college football, Autzen Stadium. They sang along to "Coming Home (Oregon)," they danced to "Shout!" and they roared in approval to the highlights on the field during a 17-10 victory for the Combat Ducks over the Fighting Ducks in the split-squad scrimmage.

Below are some takeaways from the exhibition, which capped 15 spring practices for the Ducks leading up to the 2026 season come fall.

1. The Spring Game included touchdown passes from Dante Moore and new addition Dylan Raiola, during the first half, and a "game-winning" touchdown pass from Brock Thomas to Dakorien Moore in the waning moments. But Saturday was about a lot more than the details of what unfolded on the field.

On a gloriously sunny day in Eugene, fans lined up hours early to enter the parking lots, tailgated prior to kickoff as they do in the fall, enjoy the show during the Spring Game and then migrated to PK Park or Jane Sanders Stadium to cheer on some different Ducks. After the third quarter, when "Shout" echoed through the stadium, players left both sidelines to unite at midfield for an impromptu dance contest, then migrated toward the student section for the song's conclusion.

"That was a fun day," UO coach Dan Lanning said. "There's a lot of things you can walk away with and say, OK, we've got to work on some things. But ultimately, it was fun seeing our guys out there competing; certainly some stuff to clean up, but got to get some really good reps. (A spring game is) nothing like a gameday experience in a lot of places in the country, and we get to have that here because our fans are unbelievable. So big shout-out to our fans, making the day so special."

Kayvon Thibodeaux

2. Moore was outstanding on his opening drive. The Ducks' returning starter led the offense to three third-down conversions on the possession, one a long scramble by the quarterback himself and the last a touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson.

The transfer Raiola then had a long touchdown pass for the Fighting Ducks, as the teams played to a 10-10 halftime tie. Lanning urged caution in drawing too many conclusions from the play on the field Saturday.

"Overall, there was some good on both sides, but ultimately I've gotta go back and watch it," he said. "Part of it's about, OK, who's throwing? Who you throwing it to, who's protecting for you, what was the call? We were very vanilla today, right? We're not going to put a bunch on film. We wanted to go out there and execute some base calls. So once I watch the film, I'll have a better assessment how each guy played."

Dylan Raiola

3. That includes receiver Evan Stewart, but it was great to see the game-breaking receiver back on the field after a season lost to injury.

It was Stewart who hauled in a 76-yard touchdown pass from Raiola in the first half. Stewart played in a non-contact jersey, but with his game-breaking speed there was little chance of contact after he made a catch behind the defense.

"This has been Evan's best spring since I've been here," Lanning said. "I'm really excited about the growth. When you have something that's not there for a while, you don't get the opportunity to do it, you're really hungry when you come back. And I've seen the maturity from him. I've seen him really level up in execution, be a guy that we can count on this spring."

4. With the Ducks being "very vanilla" in their playcalling, as Lanning noted, new coordinators Drew Mehringer and Chris Hampton weren't able to dig too deep into their playbooks.

But there were still plenty for them to gain in terms of gameday experience as recently promoted assistants on Lanning's staff.

Dan Lanning

"When roles change in an organization, it's, OK, who's talking to the guys before the team, who's making sure we have our call sheets prepared the way they need to be prepared," Lanning said. "There's a lot of that day in and day out that's really important, and us being able to execute at a high level on game day. And again, just as much as it's preparation for the players to, you know, catch a ball in front of a bunch of people, in front of thousands of people, it's the same thing for coaches to call a defense or an offense in front of a lot of people."

5. The Ducks now head into the summer before preseason camp begins in late summer. They set a foundation this spring, and now they'll look to build on it.

"I think the intelligence of this group is really high, and the acumen and ability to execute offensive and defensive plays is really up there," Lanning said. "So they know and understand what we're trying to do. We've got a lot of stuff packaged well that these guys can operate really well. So I'd say that part's ahead.

"We've become a much more connected team this spring; that's going to continue as we go through the remainder of this offseason. We've got to get stronger. We've got to continue to become the physical team that we've been here in the past. So there's a lot of areas still for growth, but I think we're a really smart team right now and understand what we want to accomplish."