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Will Oregon continue to be the 'it' school out West?
RatherBeBrewing
Member Posts: 1,557
in Duck Refuge
It certainly looks it. Mario Cristobal brought an SEC-like recruiting approach with him to Oregon, and it’s resulted in back-to-back Pac-12-leading classes. Oregon is aggressive in its recruiting tactics. Cristobal is a high-energy coach and he puts on a high-energy display for recruits when they arrive in Eugene. The entire staff meets a prospect at the start of the visit, and they’re treated to a full on show the entire trip that fully leans into the flash that Nike’s flagship school provides. Cristobal emphasizes offensive and defensive line play and isn’t afraid to recruit nationally, signing players from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Illinois last cycle. USC, comparatively, signed just two players east of Arizona and nobody further east than Texas.
"You take impressionable kids, who grew up with Oregon winning and now they’re being recruited by Oregon — whether on the West Coast or nationally — and that's a huge deal to them," said Brandon Huffman, a 247Sports recruiting insider. "Cristobal and his staff are recruiting lights out, locally, regionally and nationally. Cristobal has a commanding presence with recruits, whether they’re visiting Eugene or he’s at their school. Recruits always rave about their unofficial visits to Oregon, when they get off the elevator, 30 coaches and staffers are yelling and screaming for them to welcome them. The trip kicks off on a high and it stays that way the whole time. Then they’re winning. The conference, the Rose Bowl, awards. And players are being projected to draft high. So take a program thats winning, with players getting drafted and then couple it with a head coach who understands the importance of recruiting and the effort needed and then see that trickle down to his assistants, you have a program not going away.”
Oregon is forcing the Pac-12 to move with it from a recruiting perspective – resources, time spent and methodology – and it’s resulted in success. Couple that with USC and UCLA being down at the moment, and the Ducks are positioned to go on a run of dominance in the Pac-12. That sets Oregon up to continue recruiting at an elite level. The Ducks’ 2021 class already ranks seventh nationally, thanks largely to a quartet of four-star prospects from California. The West Coast is in notice. Oregon is here to stay.
"You take impressionable kids, who grew up with Oregon winning and now they’re being recruited by Oregon — whether on the West Coast or nationally — and that's a huge deal to them," said Brandon Huffman, a 247Sports recruiting insider. "Cristobal and his staff are recruiting lights out, locally, regionally and nationally. Cristobal has a commanding presence with recruits, whether they’re visiting Eugene or he’s at their school. Recruits always rave about their unofficial visits to Oregon, when they get off the elevator, 30 coaches and staffers are yelling and screaming for them to welcome them. The trip kicks off on a high and it stays that way the whole time. Then they’re winning. The conference, the Rose Bowl, awards. And players are being projected to draft high. So take a program thats winning, with players getting drafted and then couple it with a head coach who understands the importance of recruiting and the effort needed and then see that trickle down to his assistants, you have a program not going away.”
Oregon is forcing the Pac-12 to move with it from a recruiting perspective – resources, time spent and methodology – and it’s resulted in success. Couple that with USC and UCLA being down at the moment, and the Ducks are positioned to go on a run of dominance in the Pac-12. That sets Oregon up to continue recruiting at an elite level. The Ducks’ 2021 class already ranks seventh nationally, thanks largely to a quartet of four-star prospects from California. The West Coast is in notice. Oregon is here to stay.
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Washington gets a mention as well: “I do think we’ll continue to see top players leave home but it remains to be seen just how many," said 247Sports' Greg Biggins. "We have already seen four of the top players in the state make commitments to schools outside the region including Korey Foreman and Beaux Collins to Clemson, Tyler Buchner to Notre Dame and Raesjon Davies to LSU. Look for USC to do a better job on the local kids and UCLA is showing a much more aggressive approach early on as well. Saying that, Oregon and Washington aren’t going away and are doing a great job in the SoCal area and schools like Clemson, LSU, Alabama, Ohio State and Texas are making strong inroads as well."