After a few months of painstaking recruiting being done by schools nationwide, the Oregon Ducks find their 2024 class ranked 8th by 247Sports. Some of Oregon’s top verbal commitments include QB Michael Van Buren, S Aaron Flowers, and CB Ify Obidegwu. If all these commitments hold, and the Ducks bring in a few more blue chips, this class could stand out as one of Oregon’s best ever.
Currently, the title of best ever belongs to the 2019 Oregon class, which ranked 7th in the nation when all was said and done, the highest mark Oregon has ever received. It featured players like Kayvon Thibodeaux — the top-rated recruit in program history — alongside Mykael Wright, Mase Funa, and Brandon Dorlus.
As they have every year, The Athletic looked back at the 2019 classes with four years of hindsight and re-ranked them based on how they panned out. Using accolades accrued in college, eventual place in the NFL Draft, and overall production with the team, they are able to get a hindsight look at who actually had the best recruiting class for each year based on how things panned out on the field.
Oregon’s historic No. 7 fell to No. 15 in the Athletic’s new ranking.
Max Olson, the article’s author, had this to say:
“On signing day, this was the highest-rated recruiting class in Oregon history. Mario Cristobal and the Ducks won a big-time battle for Thibodeaux, the No. 2 overall recruit, and brought in 14 four-star signees. They won big with these guys with a top-five finish and Rose Bowl victory in 2019, a Pac-12 title in 2020 and a return trip to the Pac-12 title game in 2021. Thibodeaux lived up to the hype as a unanimous All-American and No. 5 draft pick, and Dorlus and Wright joined him in becoming first-team All-Pac-12 standouts. But almost half of the members of this signing class did end up entering the transfer portal.”
As Olson said, Thibodeaux was the biggest win of 2019 for the Ducks. He remains the highest-rated recruit in school history, was one of the highest Oregon draft picks ever, and played well in his rookie season for the New York Giants.
Olson also mentioned that more than half of the Ducks 2019 class ended up in the transfer portal after playing part of their college career with Oregon. Of course, that has become more common in the world of college football, especially when you experience a coaching change like Oregon did with Cristobal leaving for Miami. Some notable names in that group including WR Mycah Pittman and RB Sean Dollars, both of whom departed this offseason.
Something that interests me that isn’t mentioned in Olson’s writeup is how many of Oregon’s 3-star recruits ended up blossoming into quality players. S Trikweze Bridges, DE Brandon Dorlus, LB Jamal Hill, and K Camden Lewis all were rated as 3-star players by 247Sports, but have become key starters for the current Oregon team.
When looking back at what was considered the best Ducks’ class ever at the time, we’re reminded that it is impossible to predict how these things will work themselves out. Getting commitments from top-tier recruits is obviously exciting — and it should be — but only time will tell if the Ducks of 2024 will reign supreme.
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