Just under a week ago, the college football recruiting world was turned a bit upside down after the hirings of a pair of the best coaches in the nation, with Lincoln Riley going to USC and Brian Kelly going to LSU.
The USC hire has a major impact on the Oregon Ducks, as it gives the Pac-12 an elite recruiter in one of the hot spots in the U.S. — Southern California. There is now a concern that a number of recruits who have already committed to the Ducks may take a look at the Trojans, while those who are still on the fence may be swayed in a certain direction.
According to The Oregonian‘s Andrew Nemec, that won’t be a problem for a couple of high-profile Oregon commits this year. Nemec reports that 5-star OL Kelvin Banks is still “solid” in his decision on the Ducks, while 4-star CB Jahlil Florence says the same.
4-star CB @JahlilFlorence8 says not only is he solid to Oregon, but that he feels teammate and fellow elite DB @TuckerJalil is locked in with Oregon. Two of top pledges in class.
— Andrew Nemec (@AndrewNemec) December 2, 2021
As you see above, Nemec also was told by Florence that his high school teammate, fellow 4-star DB and Oregon commit Jalil Tucker, is also locked on the Ducks.
Banks’ commitment has been a topic of conversation for the Ducks over the past month, with Oregon’s highest-rated OL commit ever taking a couple of visits to Texas schools where he is from, namely the University of Texas and Texas A&M. Despite those visits, Banks was always very open about the fact that he was locked in on the Ducks, and just wanted to have the experience of some other schools.
The early signing period in college football starts on December 15th, and the Ducks will likely get a jump on the recruiting class by inking a number of players. While there may be some unease over the next couple of weeks, we can at least feel confident that some of the top guys in Oregon’s 2022 class will be staying strong in their decisions.
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