For those of you that may not want to read the poetic waxing about realignment here are the recruiting notes: (I quote Homer, and Thomas Hardy with some channeling of Faulkner as well. Apologies to those that just want the recruiting notes!)
RECRUITING NOTES:
- Another visitor from the Spring Game was Jeremiah McClellan. Clint Cosgrove gave us an excellent interview from McClellan but I am going to build a little on that. Yes, distance is a factor with McClellan, but I think the staff did a fantastic job overcoming this during the unofficial visit and did a really good job at getting his family on board with the trip. Dan Lanning is from the Kansas City area, so talking to a Missouri family about the travel is certainly very genuine and the staff have a great vision that they are able to present. What is crucial here is that Oregon is recruiting McClellan harder than anyone and the unofficial visit was a home run. The Ducks are setting up a big weekend for the middle of June and I expect that is when they will try to get McCLellan back out for his official visit.
- Another Missouri star – Williams Nwaneri named Oregon in his top ten recently and that is a good sign that the Ducks have yet to be eliminated. Folks at Lee’s Summit North think that his upside is even better than his rankings. It says something that the No. 20 player in the nation has an upside better than his rankings. I am not overly optimistic he ends up selecting Oregon. His head coach – Jamar Mozee – was a highly touted recruit himself who played at Oklahoma when Brent Venables was the Co-defensive coordinator – so I would right now call the Sooners the leader, but there is still some time to go in this one.
- Aaron Butler had a fantastic visit to Oregon and everyone felt it was only a matter of time until he committed. Then he had a fantastic visit to Colorado and now the feeling is that Colorado will be his landing spot. I cannot say whether he will or will not sign with Colorado, but let’s give this post-visit glow some time to wear off and see where things stand in a week or two. Every year there are a handful of players that really love every visit and it feels like they are ready to commit multiple times. I think this one still has some time to play out before anything is really ironclad.
- Bennett Warren has already been to Eugene for an unofficial visit. After that visit, he told Rivals about Oregon as the visit helped cement the Ducks as a frontrunner in his recruitment as it reminded him of his original hometown in the northeast.
"Oregon was really dope," he said. "Those facilities are insane. The coaches in general are great people to be around. I was there for four days and I felt at home every day. I used to live up in Ithaca, New York and it's a similar feeling up there. Cooler weather, up in the mountains."
Warren will visit again on June 23rd and I still think Oregon has a chance here. Lanning and A'Lique Terry have some work to do, but they are doing all the right things with Warren.
All for now!
RECRUITING NOTES:
- Another visitor from the Spring Game was Jeremiah McClellan. Clint Cosgrove gave us an excellent interview from McClellan but I am going to build a little on that. Yes, distance is a factor with McClellan, but I think the staff did a fantastic job overcoming this during the unofficial visit and did a really good job at getting his family on board with the trip. Dan Lanning is from the Kansas City area, so talking to a Missouri family about the travel is certainly very genuine and the staff have a great vision that they are able to present. What is crucial here is that Oregon is recruiting McClellan harder than anyone and the unofficial visit was a home run. The Ducks are setting up a big weekend for the middle of June and I expect that is when they will try to get McCLellan back out for his official visit.
- Another Missouri star – Williams Nwaneri named Oregon in his top ten recently and that is a good sign that the Ducks have yet to be eliminated. Folks at Lee’s Summit North think that his upside is even better than his rankings. It says something that the No. 20 player in the nation has an upside better than his rankings. I am not overly optimistic he ends up selecting Oregon. His head coach – Jamar Mozee – was a highly touted recruit himself who played at Oklahoma when Brent Venables was the Co-defensive coordinator – so I would right now call the Sooners the leader, but there is still some time to go in this one.
- Aaron Butler had a fantastic visit to Oregon and everyone felt it was only a matter of time until he committed. Then he had a fantastic visit to Colorado and now the feeling is that Colorado will be his landing spot. I cannot say whether he will or will not sign with Colorado, but let’s give this post-visit glow some time to wear off and see where things stand in a week or two. Every year there are a handful of players that really love every visit and it feels like they are ready to commit multiple times. I think this one still has some time to play out before anything is really ironclad.
- Bennett Warren has already been to Eugene for an unofficial visit. After that visit, he told Rivals about Oregon as the visit helped cement the Ducks as a frontrunner in his recruitment as it reminded him of his original hometown in the northeast.
"Oregon was really dope," he said. "Those facilities are insane. The coaches in general are great people to be around. I was there for four days and I felt at home every day. I used to live up in Ithaca, New York and it's a similar feeling up there. Cooler weather, up in the mountains."
Warren will visit again on June 23rd and I still think Oregon has a chance here. Lanning and A'Lique Terry have some work to do, but they are doing all the right things with Warren.
All for now!
