It wouldn’t be summer recruiting without any surprises. Recently, it was a bit of a surprise to hear that 2023 WR commit Ashton Cozart was visiting the Oregon Ducks. So, it doesn’t come as much of a shock that Cozart has decided to flip his commitment from the Sooners to the Ducks.
The commitment is less of a surprise than some may think because Cozart had been vocal in recent interviews about recruiting and visiting other schools. We chronicled the news that Cozart would be visiting Eugene, Oregon this weekend earlier in the week. That visit coupled with the likely communication that has been taking place over the last few weeks was enough to seal the deal for Cozart who now becomes a Duck.
Cozart told On3 Recruiting, “The biggest factors with my decision are development, culture, and the relationships I have with the University. I’ve grown up in the Pacific Northwest most of my life and have dreamed of playing there since I was a kid.”
BREAKING: Four-Star WR Ashton Cozart has flipped to Oregon, he tells @On3Recruits
The Top 100 Player in the ‘23 Class had been committed to Oklahoma since February 4th.
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Cozart represented the Sooners’ only skill-position commit for the 2023 class when he picked Oklahoma just over three months ago. A promising visit helped solidify his thoughts on OU in the wake of Lincoln Riley’s departure and the hiring of Brent Venables as head coach and Jeff Lebby as offensive coordinator.
Considering how it all went down, this seems like a final split between Oklahoma and Cozart with the Sooners now resetting their board at wide receiver to focus even heavier on names like Mikal Harrison-Pilot, Jaquaize Pettaway, and Anthony Evans. The Sooners recently landed two receivers in the transfer portal with multiple years of eligibility, Javian Hester and LV Bunkley-Shelton, and it’s hard not to imagine that those commitments also likely played a factor in Cozart’s decision to look around elsewhere too.
In the end, this entire mini-saga is just another day in the college football recruiting world. The Sooners have multiple wide receiver targets in their sights and will spend the rest of the summer and fall trying to land two if not all three of them.
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