Lanning Updates Status of Chase Cota, Sam Taimani, Steven Jones

The Oregon Ducks' week 9 win over the California Golden Bears seemed like a bit of a mixed bag. 

After a slow start in the first quarter the Ducks trailed 3-0, but they turned it on the rest of the way en route to a 42-24 win and nearly 600 yards of total offense. However, the defense surrendered 14 points in garbage time and the team's No. 2 wide receiver Chase Cota, exited the game in the first half with an injury and didn't return. 

Troy Franklin, the team's clear cut No. 1 wide receiver, went down briefly towards the end of the first half, but some are calling that strategy rather than a legitimate injury and he played in the second half without limitation. 

WATCH: Dan Lanning's Colorado week press conference

However, the Ducks were without one of their top interior linemen on defense in Berkeley, as veteran tackle Sam 'Taki' Taimani was unavailable due to injury. Keanu Williams saw an uptick in snaps in his place and Lanning and Brandon Dorlus were complementary of his performance after the game. 

Steven Jones, Oregon's starting right guard heading into the season, hasn't played since Oregon's week 2 win over Eastern Washington. However, he was seen in Berkeley without a walking boot, an encouraging sign of the progress he's made to return to action. 

Lanning provided an update on the injured trio's status heading into week 10 on Monday.

"To be determined. All those guys are working to get back," the head coach told reporters in Eugene. "Don't know how long some of those will go. So we'll kind of wait and see. Don't want to guess too early."

Fortunately for Oregon, they shouldn't need any of the aforementioned players against Colorado this week, as they've developed significant depth at wide receiver, defensive line and offensive line. Marcus Harper stepped in for Jones earlier this year and the Ducks haven't missed a beat on offense with the exception of a few slow starts against Washington State and Cal.

As for the wideouts, Lanning said we can expect to see some more players get involved moving forward depending on the severity of Cota's injury.

"We saw a few different guys (vs. Cal). Dont'e Thorton had a bigger role there in the second half," Lanning said. "Kris Hutson got to move positions a little bit and I thought that was really positive to see him be able to change positions within a game and have some success and not have a lot of mental errors and busts. 

"But we'll continue to see more players, Delgado and a few others moving forward depending on how long that looks like Chase will be not with us."