No. 2 Oregon turns to a goal-setting method used by Shohei Ohtani as it chases a national title

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — When a young Shohei Ohtani was envisioning his future in baseball, he turned to a goal-setting tool developed by a Japanese track coach.

The Harada Method for setting and achieving goals, once used by Ohtani to manifest a major league career, has now been adopted in football by No. 2 Oregon .

The idea is that there's one ultimate goal, with eight supporting pillars as a path and actionable items beneath each pillar. Coach Dan Lanning introduced the tool to players at a team retreat this summer.

“It just lays out our format of things that we want to do this year. Coach Lanning has always been a big write things out on his mirror, write things out on the board, and really speak into existence. And this year, I’ve done the same thing,” said quarterback Dante Moore, who will start for the Ducks again this year after he opted out of declaring for the NFL draft.

The Ducks have lofty goals after they reached the College Football Playoff in each of the past two seasons but fell short of a national title.

Last season, Oregon went 13-2, with both losses coming to Fernando Mendoza and national champion Indiana. The Ducks enter this season with the highest preseason ranking in program history.

“It started a little bit with our leadership group when we did our leadership retreat; went through it, kind of built out some of our vision boards,” Lanning said. “Some of our players have done the same thing individually. But yeah, kind of grew from there.”

The message resonated for many of the Ducks.

“The Harada method definitely helps you hone in on little goals before getting to that big goal, and if you can’t do those little goals, like you just can’t expect that big goal, and that’s been the main thing we’ve been preaching," receiver Evan Stewart said.

Oregon brings a loaded offense into the season, led by Moore, who threw for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns last year. Stewart is back after missing last season with a torn patellar tendon, and he'll be joined by standout receiver Dakorian Moore. The defensive line is also a strength, with Matayo Uiagalelei, Bear Alexander and A’Mauri Washington all returning after eschewing the NFL draft.

Alexander posted his square Harada board on Instagram . In the center box was his central goal: becoming a first-round draft pick. Among his eight pillars in boxes surrounding that goal were faith, discipline, character and health. The actionable items beneath character included “being kind” and “giving back.”

Lanning said he and Cory Shaffer, a mental performance consultant for the Ducks, were interested in the Harada Method before it became a tool for the players.

The method was developed by Takashi Harada, a junior high track coach who aimed to inspire underperforming athletes through discipline and self-reliance. While originally used in sports, it has been adapted to business, too.

“It’s something that I was kind of studying before, and then Cory and I both actually sent it to each other. So, it kind of worked out and was like, OK, this might be something we want to surround some of our thought processes,” Lanning said. “It started a little bit with our leadership group. We did our leadership retreat, went through it, kind of built out some of our vision boards, and some of our players have done the same thing individually.”

Moore was among them.

“Ohtani is probably going to be the greatest baseball player of all time, I mean, at the end of the day, what he’s done,” Moore said. “But yeah, we’re just trying to learn from the greats and make sure we be that team this year.”

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here , visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here