Dan Lanning was not surprised to get a question about Tez Johnson’s status right out of the gate at his Monday evening press conference.

“That didn’t take long. I thought it might be (the No. 1 question),” cracked Lanning after the first question following his opening statement was about Oregon’s leading receiver.

Johnson, of course, was injured early in Saturday’s big win over Michigan. The injury, coupled with Johnson’s body language, provided an ominous feeling for many, and Lanning did not have much of an update outside of focusing on player safety.

“I’m going to tell you the same thing I always tell you. As soon as they’re ready to go, we’ll have them out there,” said Lanning. “We’re going to put player safety first.”

However, the good news for the Ducks is that Lanning indicated the expectation is to get Johnson back “soon.” That is still a relative term, but it is at least a great sign that Johnson has not been ruled out for the season.

” Tez will be down certainly right now in the near future, but I do anticipate us getting Tez back here soon,” Lanning explained. “Same with Marcus. Neither one of those injuries are as bad as they appeared on the field. but I don’t know when that looks like right now.”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported a similar update during the day on Monday. According to Thamel’s reporting, Johnson did not require surgery for the injury and the wide receiver will be back at some point in the season.

The good news from this past weekend is that Oregon was able to withstand the loss of Johnson with Traeshon Holden especially stepping up in a big way. He recorded 6 catches for 149 yards in a complete outing. It was the first 100-yard game of Holden’s career and tied his career-high in catches.

The major area where Johnson’s absence was felt came on the punt return unit. Ryan Pellum was thrust into that position but promptly fumbled on his first chance to return against Michigan.

Oregon would replace Pellum with Evan Stewart for the rest of the game, and Lanning indicated Oregon will continue to evaluate that specific position moving forward.