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The 2025 Oregon football team has a lot of intrigue this year, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The offense is going to look different after Dillon Gabriel got drafted. However, they have enough on defense, from the front seven to the back end in the secondary, that should help keep the Ducks elite. In particular, the linebackers are set up to succeed in 2025 thanks to Brian Michalowski.
Oregon football linebackers coach Brian Michalowski spoke to the media on Wednesday after practice, sharing his unique perspective and mindset on development. He said he wants every linebacker who takes the field for Tosh Lupoi and Dan Lanning's defense to have the starter mentality, primarily due to how often the position group rotates in and out.
“I take great pride in treating everyone like they could be the starter. You develop every single guy to think of themself as a starter. We do a great job of having rotations at practice and splitting the team green/yellow. A lot of guys get different experiences with each other.
“So they’re building that cohesiveness, and things will happen during the season. There’s gonna be guys that go down. There’s that saying ‘Next man up,’ but truly here we are preparing for how we practice in camp every day with how we rotate green/yellow.”
Dan Lanning has 17 linebackers he can utilize in that room under Michalowski. This season, the best player in the room is likely Bryce Boettcher because he is a tackling machine. He had 94 total tackles, 50 solos, 44 assists, four deflected passes, two sacks, one forced fumble, and one interception.
Michalowski also went on to talk with the media about the depth of what he thinks the linebacker room has.
“It’s about who’s ready to play in that moment. Some teams play 90% of snaps with two linebackers. That hasn’t been the case since I’ve been here because Jamal Hill is an NFL linebacker. He was a rotational guy. Bryce Boettcher was in that room, too. We had Jestin Jacobs.
“There’s been depth in that room in the past. I think if we can roll with four or five, we'd like to have a lot of linebackers on special teams. It’s all about how many guys we can get on the “bus” or the “plane” at our level. I’d love to travel six or seven linebackers if possible, but prepare each guy to step up when the opportunity comes.”
The defense is the biggest key for Oregon football and Dan Lanning this season, as inexperience and injuries are piling up on offense.
