Dan Lanning isn’t messing around.
The Oregon Ducks are ranked No. 1 in the latest iteration of the College Football Playoff standings. On Saturday, they’ll get a chance to win a Big Ten title in the program’s inaugural season within the conference.
Oh yeah — and they’re recruiting at a ridiculously high level.
Wednesday corresponded with the first Signing Day period. For the most part, full classes will be pieced together during this time. While the state of Oregon isn’t exactly flush with elite prospects, that hasn’t stopped Oregon from being a total monster on the recruiting trails.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Oregon currently has signed the No. 4 recruiting class in the country — only behind Texas, Georgia, and Alabama (per 247Sports). It’s rather astounding considering that the aforementioned trio of programs have a much deeper pool of talent to pull from. Oregon rarely signs more than a handful of guys from their home state — and thus has to rely on other parts of the country.
Speaking of which, the Ducks did a fantastic job with this class in landing guys from outside the Pacific Northwest.
Dakorien Moore is the Ducks’ top-ranked signee. He’s the No. 8 overall player in the country and the No. 1 receiver nationally. He hails from the state of Texas. Na’eem Offord shocked many by spurning Auburn and Alabama for Oregon. The corner out of Birmingham, Ala. ranks No. 12 nationally.
6-foot-3 WR Dallas Wilson warded off advances from the Florida Gators in order to head West. The Tampa Bay native is ranked No. 26 overall. Corners Brandon Finney (Maryland) and Dorian Brew (Texas) also left their home states to play for Lanning’s program. Longtime Cal QB commit Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele flipped to Oregon from his high school in Hawaii. He has been one of the fastest-rising players in this class and will continue the strong lineage of Hawaiian signal-callers in Eugene.
As of Dec. 4, the Ducks have signed 21 players. 19 of those prospects are considered 4 or 5-star commits. Seven players are ranked within 247Sports’ top 100 nationally. Oregon’s class includes players from Texas, Alabama, Florida, Maryland, California, Washington, Ohio, Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and Illinois.
With USC and UCLA faltering at the moment, and Washington in a serious rebuild, there’s not another West Coast program coming close to operating at the level Oregon is currently. With Phil Knight highly motivated to see his Ducks capture a National Championship, Oregon won’t be going away anytime soon.
