Dan Lanning shoots back at Kirby Smart over Oregon football NIL dig

Oregon football is cleaning up on the recruiting trail, and Kirby Smart suggested Phil Knight's contributions to the school's NIL has something to do with it.

Oregon Ducks football coach Dan Lanning is happy to have the NIL support he has at the school, and doesn't care who knows it. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Oregon football has enjoyed tremendous recruiting and portal gains under head coach Dan Lanning, in part because of an NIL operation that gets generous help from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, something that Georgia coach Kirby Smart took notice of recently.

Smart joked that he wished the Bulldogs could "get some of that NIL money that [Knight is] sharing with Dan Lanning," comments the Ducks coach caught wind of.

"I think it's impressive that guys like Kirby Smart have been signing the number one class in the nation without any NIL money 😂😂

Kirby is a great mentor and I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for him" ~ @CoachDanLanning#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/78uOI655LC

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 25, 2024

"I think it's impressive that guys like Kirby have been signing the No. 1 class in the nation without any NIL money this entire time," Lanning said on The Pat McAfee Show.

"Obviously, Coach Smart took a little shot at us. I don't think it's a secret: if you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better have great support. We have that."

He added: "Do we have a lot more than everybody else? I think that'd be an exaggeration or we'd never lose. Everyone else right now is focused on our ice cream cone, and if I'm busy looking at theirs, that means mine's melting."

Lanning served as defensive coordinator for Smart at Georgia from 2019 to 2021 and started out as outside linebackers coach there in 2018.

"I still definitely visit with Kirby," he said. "I consider him a great mentor, and I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for guys like that. Kirby's changed my career. I probably learned more from Coach Smart than other other coach that I've ever worked with in my career."

Lanning is 22-5 in two seasons at Oregon, which joins the Big Ten this coming football season, posting two straight AP top 25 finishes and going 2-0 in bowl games.

That success, combined with his work on the recruiting trail and in the portal, has the Ducks in prime position to take another big step forward this season. And that NIL money doesn't hurt, either.

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