Tag: Oregon recruiting

Twitter Reactions: Duck fans celebrate after Oregon lands pair of blue-chip commitments

On a Double-Duck day, Oregon fans head to Twitter to play.

The strong spring continued for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, landing a pair of talented blue-chip prospects in the 2024 recruiting class.

4-star quarterback Michael Van Buren and 4-star defensive lineman Xadavien Sims announced on Saturday afternoon that they would be committing to Oregon, giving the Ducks 13 players in the 2024 class and a nice bump in the top 10 of the national recruiting rankings.

It doesn’t come as much of a shock to see that Oregon fans are incredibly happy on social media, celebrating the commitments and looking forward to another potential commitment coming on Monday, with 4-star WR Dillon Gresham set to announce his decision.

Here are some of the top reactions from fans and media members on Twitter Saturday afternoon:

Ducks take another jump up in 2024 recruiting ranking after Saturday’s commitments

Both Michael Van Buren and Xadavien Sims are among the top 130 players in the 2024 class. Not a surprise to see a jump in the rankings for UO.

When you’re able to add a pair of players who are ranked among the top 130 players in the nation, it comes as no surprise to see a bump in the national recruiting rankings.

That’s exactly what happened for the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, landing commitments from both 4-star QB Michael Van Buren and 4-star DL Xadavien Sims.

Van Buren is rated as the No. 11 QB and No. 123 player in the nation, while Sims is rated as the No. 16 DL and No. 121 overall player in the 2024 class.

Going into the weekend, Oregon had 11 commitments in 2024 and their class was rated as the seventh-best in the nation. Where do they now stand with the additions of both Van Buren and Sims? Take a look:

4-star DL Xadavien Sims announces commitment

BREAKING: 4-star DL Xadavien Sims announces commitment

Make it a double-quack day for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks.

Not long after landing a commitment from 4-star QB Michael Van Buren on Saturday afternoon, 4-star DL Xadavien Sims announced that he would be committing to the Ducks as well.

Sims is rated as the No. 16 DL and No. 121 overall player in the 2024 class, per 247SPorts. He chose Oregon over both the Oklahoma Sooners and Michigan State Spartans, while TCU and Vanderbilt were also in the mix.

Despite his commitment, Sims has said that he still plans to take his official visits this summer to some of the other schools recruiting him.

Sims is the 13th member of the Ducks’ 2024 class.

Xadavien Sims Recruiting Profile

4-star QB Michael Van Buren commits to Oregon

The Ducks added another passer to the mix in 2024. Welcome 4-star QB Michael Van Buren to Eugene.

If you can pull it off, why not get two quarterbacks in the 2024 recruiting cycle?

That’s exactly what the Oregon Ducks did, landing a commitment from 4-start QB Michael Van Buren on Saturday afternoon, further bolstering the 2024 class. Van Buren — rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 11 QB in the class, and No. 123 overall player in the nation — chose the Ducks over the Maryland Terrapins and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Van Buren is the second quarterback to commit to the Ducks in the 2024 cycle, joining 3-star QB Luke Moga, who announced his commitment at the end of April just ahead of Oregon’s spring game. Van Buren will also be joined in Eugene by 4-star CB Ify Obidegwu, a high school teammate from St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.

Michael Van Buren’s Recruiting Profile

4-star TE Puts Oregon in his top 5

Top-20 TE prospect, Ryner Swanson, puts the Oregon Ducks in his top five schools.

For the second day in a row, a high-quality tight end prospect placed the Oregon Ducks among their top five schools. On Thursday, it was Ryner Swanson, the 19th-best tight end in the class of 2023, who expressed an interest in Oregon.

The Ducks’ star tight end in 2022 was Terrance Ferguson, but this spring, he went down with an injury that could keep him off the field for a while. Following Ferguson’s injury the Ducks have made multiple TE pickups in the transfer portal such as Kaden Ludwick from Colorado and Casey Kelly from Ole Miss.

In the class of 2024, the No. 1 TE Jaden Reddell has shown a strong interest in the Ducks after putting them in his top five Wednesday. As players, Swanson and Reddell differ. One of Reddell’s biggest strengths is his speed, but one of Swanson’s is his size. Swanson often uses that size to both bring down contested catches and break tackles in the open field.

Swanson is a California native, but the only school in his home state that has extended him an offer is Stanford. Oregon is the only coastal school in his top five, and it is also one of the closer schools to his hometown. If those factors are selling points for Swanson, the Ducks could be closer to the top of that five than the bottom of it.

Ryner Swanson’s Recruiting Profile

4-star WR Dillon Gresham sets commitment date; Ducks remain heavy favorite

It’s looking like it will be a busy and eventful weekend for the Ducks on the recruiting trail.

It’s looking like the Oregon Ducks might have quite the weekend on the recruiting trail.

With a pair of 4-star players announcing their commitments on Saturday — QB Michael Van Buren and DL Xadavien Sims — there’s a good chance that Oregon lands both, as they are currently favored to do. On Monday, 4-star WR Dillon Greshman has now announced that he will make his commitment.

The Ducks are also the favorites to land Gresham as well, according to a 247Sports Crystal Ball prediction from Steve Wiltfong.

Gresham is rated as the No. 44 WR in the 2024 class. The Ducks already have commitments from both Jordan Anderson, the No. 16 WR, and Tysheer Denmark, the No. 20 WR in the 2024 class.

Dillon Gresham’s Recruiting Profile

Big time prediction comes in for Oregon to land 4-star DL over Oklahoma Sooners

Big time prediction comes in for Oregon to land 4-star DL over Oklahoma Sooners

When diving into the world of college football recruiting and trying to figure out where a prospect is going to end up committing, it is important to decipher who says what.

This is not to take anything away from the hard-working reporters who cover the sport, but when certain people say something or make a prediction, it tends to carry more weight than others. We saw this take place earlier in the year with 5-star ATH Nyckoles Harbor. The night before signing day back in February, a litany of recruiting predictions came in, showing that Harbor was expected to go to South Carolina. At the end of the night, 247Sports’ Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong — one of those reporters whose opinion carries some weight — changed his prediction to Oregon. It seemed as if Harbor was going to be a Duck, until the next morning, Wiltfong changed his prediction back to South Carolina, and the 5-star ATH became a Gamecock.

Wiltfong generally has a pretty good feel for what is happening.

So over the past week, while recruiting predictions flooded in for 4-star DL Xadavien Sims to go to both the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oregon Ducks, Wiltfong’s prediction on Wednesday afternoon — a log for Dan Lanning and the Ducks — should give Oregon fans quite a bit of confidence.

Sims is rated by 247Sports as the No. 121 overall player in the 2024 class, and the No. 16 defensive lineman. He will announce his ultimate commitment on Saturday afternoon, the same day that 4-star QB Michael Van Buren announces — another player who is favored to go to the Ducks.

Xadavien Sims Recruiting Profile

No. 1 2024 TE Jaden Reddell puts Ducks in his top five

The No. 1 TE in the 2024 class put the Ducks in their Top 5.

After Terrance Ferguson went down this spring, tight end immediately became a position that the Oregon Ducks need to recruit. Since then, true freshman Kenyon Sadiq has been impressive and a few days ago, the Ducks picked up TE Kaden Ludwick from Colorado. Still, tight end has remained a focus., and the Ducks still want to bring in high-end talent.

In the class 2024, the No. 1 TE in the country, Jaden Reddell has shown interest in Oregon. On Wednesday, he announced that he has narrowed his search to five schools, one of which is the Ducks.

As a high school player, Reddell seems most comfortable lining up out wide, catching the ball over the middle, and maximizing his yards after the catch. While he is somewhat undersized for TE, he has above-average speed and quickness that allows him to create separation against both man and zone coverages.

Of Reddell’s top five schools, Oregon is the only one near the west coast, which could mean Reddell has his heart set on staying out east, or he could be including Oregon because he wants a change of scenery. Regardless, he is a skilled player, that will make a strong impact wherever he ends up.

Ducks become heavy favorites to land 4-star Oregon legacy QB Akili Smith Jr.

Ducks become heavy favorites to land 4-star Oregon legacy QB Akili Smith Jr.

It isn’t hard to imagine seeing an Akili Smith play inside Autzen Stadium again down the road.

After the great Akili led Oregon to so much success decades ago, it appears that the Ducks might be in line to land his son, 4-star QB Akili Smith Jr.  Over the past week or so, a number of predictions have come in on the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine for Smith to commit to Oregon. He is rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 94 overall player in the class of 2025, and the No. 7 QB.

Smith Sr. was the starting QB in Eugene for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. throwing for 45 touchdowns in his two seasons.

Akili Smith Jr.’s Recruiting Profile

5-Star DL schedules official visit to Oregon

The Ducks may be in the running for another elite defender in the 2024 class.

A few weeks into the 2024 recruiting cycle, many players nationwide are placing the Oregon Ducks among their top schools. One of the most talented players to express an interest in the Ducks is the 5-star defensive lineman, Williams Nwaneri.

Earlier this month, Nwaneri named Oregon as one of his top 10 schools. This Sunday, he showed more interest in the Ducks after he announced that Oregon would be one of his five official visits. An official visit is a visit that is paid in full by the university whereas unofficial visits require players to pay their own way. Currently, recruits are allowed official visits to a maximum of five schools, which has led to the belief that an official visit to a given school indicates a player’s strong interest in that program.

In 2024, Ducks’ DL Brandon Dorlus is expected to go to the NFL, and Oregon will need to find a suitable replacement. While there is talent on the depth chart below guys like Dorlus, the addition of a player like Nwaneri would still have an immediate positive impact.

Williams Nwaneri Recruiting Profile