Dan Lanning says Dillon Thieneman setting new standard for Oregon DB room

While Thursday marked the start of the Oregon Ducks men's basketball team's postseason , it also marked the start of Oregon football's spring season. Each college football program nationwide is allotted 15 spring practices a year, and the Ducks held their first on Thursday morning.

Oregon's team has changed a lot since New Year's Day when it lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl and College Football Playoff. Next fall, Oregon will have a new starting quarterback, running back, top wide receivers, and an overhauled defense. All that turnover leads to some uncertainty for the Ducks, but as Ducks Head Coach Dan Lanning said after his team's practice on Thursday, Oregon's lack of experience doesn't equate to a lack of talent or capability.

Although he was less aggressive than he has been in past years, Lanning looked to the transfer portal this offseason to fill the few holes in Oregon's program, bringing in several elite transfers. Perhaps Oregon's most important transfer pickup was Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman, who 247Sports rated as the No. 1 transfer safety this cycle. A junior, Thieneman came to Purdue as a 3-star recruit in 2023 before working his way toward becoming one of the top safeties in college football.

The early returns of Thieneman's time in Eugene have been impressive, says Lanning.

“He’s infatuated with the extra work," Lanning said of Thieneman after practice on Thursday. "There's probably not a day that goes by that he’s not in the weight room, getting bonus work, doing extra rehab, getting extra film. His intelligence, all those things are really picking up, you know, establishing some standards for the DB group and how they're going to operate.”

There wasn't one single reason the Ducks lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl — the Buckeyes dominated every facet of the game — but one glaring issue was the Ducks' secondary. Oregon's DBs lacked the size and, at times, the positional awareness to compete with Jeremiah Smith and the rest of Ohio State's wideouts. And although it was official weeks before the Rose Bowl, Thieneman's transfer feels like a direct response to the Ducks' secondary struggles in 2024.

"I love having players here that aren't satisfied," Lanning said. "Players that are looking to get better and improve. I think he saw what Oregon could bring him, and I know he's going to bring a lot to Oregon."

In two seasons at Purdue, Thieneman totaled 210 tackles, seven TFLs, a sack, six interceptions, nine PBUs, and two forced fumbles. What's odd is that all six picks came in 2023, his freshman season. In 2024, Thieneman did break up more passes than he did in 2023. It's also likely opposing QBs were weary to throw Thieneman's way after in 2024 a six-pick season the year prior.

Standing 6 feet tall, Thiememan is taller than almost all of Oregon's DBs from last season. And while Oregon's two 2024 starting safeties, Tysheem Johnson and Kobe Savage, possess skillsets centered around getting downhill to meet ballcarriers, Thieneman is the ultimate centerfielder — reading routes, tracking the ball, and letting nothing over the top. He's not afraid to get downhill, either.

The Ducks will hold their second practice on Saturday, and the spring season will continue through April, culminating with Oregon's annual Spring Game, which is set to take place on Apr. 26th. It will be Ducks fans' first look at newcomers like Thieneman, which is sure to get everyone excited for the fall season.

This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon Football's Dillon Thieneman earns high praise from Dan Lanning