Tag: Oregon recruiting

Oregon Ducks land commitment from No. 1 ranked kicker in 2023 class

Chris Sailer Kicking ranks Oregon’s newest commit, Grant Meadors, as the No. 1 ranked kicker in the 2023 class.

The Oregon Ducks added to their already impressive 2023 recruiting class on Wednesday afternoon, getting a verbal commitment from kicker Grant Meadors, out of Bakersfield, California.

According to Chris Sailer Kicking, a well-respected kicking analysis platform in the recruiting world, Meadors is ranked as the No. 1 kicker in the 2023 recruiting cycle.

Meadors recently earned a spot as a finalist in the 2023 Adidas All-American bowl as a senior at Liberty High School.

The Ducks had had some really solid production at the kicker position as of late, where they’ve leaned on Camden Lewis who has been perfect for them this season, making all 7 of his field goals and going 31-for-31 on extra point attempts.

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Dan Lanning expects a big recruiting weekend vs. UCLA Bruins

“I’m hoping to have some really great players on campus. It’s going to be an awesome atmosphere.”

There’s seemingly a pretty good chance that the game on October 22 between the No. 12 Oregon Ducks and No. 11 UCLA Bruins is turned into the defacto game of the day in college football.

With two of the best teams in the conference clashing in Eugene, many expect ESPN’s College GameDay to be in town for the matchup, and a major fan turnout will also be in order, with Oregon playing arguably their biggest home game of the season thus far.

Head coach Dan Lanning also expects there to be a pretty big opportunity on the recruiting trail as well.

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“Next game, I’m hoping to have some really great players on campus,” Lanning said on Tuesday. “It’s gonna be an awesome atmosphere, obviously getting the opportunity to play UCLA, who’s a really good team clicking on all cylinders right now. But that environment I think, from our fans and for recruits is gonna be really special.”

The Ducks have been incredibly successful on the trail already in 2023, where they have the No. 13 class in the nation, headlined by 5-star QB Dante Moore and 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey.

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As we did in the game against Stanford a couple of weeks ago, you can likely expect to see a number of recruits in town who have already committed to Oregon, as well as some of the top uncommitted prospects in the nation as well. Over the coming week, I’m sure we will start to see some of the names expected to be in attendance.

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BREAKING: Ducks land commitment from 3-star OL Bryce Boulton

The Ducks landed a verbal commitment from 3-star OL Bryce Boulton on Friday.

The Oregon Ducks added to their haul in the 2023 recruiting cycle on Friday morning, getting a verbal commitment from 3-star OL Bryce Boulton, out of Palm Desert, California.

Boulton is a 6-foot-3, 255-pound player who is rated by 247Sports as the No. 78 IOL in the 2023 class.

Boulton has heavily favored to choose the Ducks after taking a visit to Eugene earlier in the year. He now joins a recruiting class that ranks 14th in the nation and has a chance to climb those rankings with a number of high-profile prospects still in the mix.

Boulton is another big pick-up for offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, who has done incredibly well on the recruiting trail since coming to Oregon.

Bryce Boulton’s Recruiting Profile

No. 1 EDGE in 2024 class to be on-site for Oregon vs. Arizona matchup

Oregon has made 5-star EDGE Elijah Rushing a priority in the 2024 class. He will be at the Ducks’ game vs. Arizona on Saturday.

One of the top targets in the 2024 recruiting class will be on hand for the Oregon Ducks’ road game against the Arizona Wildcats this weekend.

5-star EDGE rusher Elijah Rushing has announced that he will be in attendance for the matchup. Rushing, who is the young brother of Cruz Rushing, a walk-on at Oregon, is the No. 1 ranked EDGE in the 2024 class, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 15 overall player in the nation.

Rushing has been a major priority for the Ducks, and he was on campus for a visit earlier this year, where he told Ducks Wire that he enjoyed his time greatly.

“From what they told me, they seem to have a great vision for the future of Oregon,” Rushing said. “They’re talking about how they want to and were going to build a dynasty at Oregon. It’s great hearing that they have that mentality.”

There is still a long way to go in his recruitment, and Rushing is among the most coveted players in the nation, standing at 6-foot-6, 235 pounds. The Ducks seem to be in a good position in this race early on, though. A big win over Rushing’s home-state team would likely help a lot as well.

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Elijah Rushing’s Recruiting Profile

Ducks pick up prediction to land former Texas A&M 4-star DL commit after visit to Eugene

Ducks pick up prediction to land former Texas A&M 4-star DL commit after visit to Eugene

After a big recruiting weekend in Eugene, the Oregon Ducks are picking up a favorable prediction to land one of the top prospects who was in town for the game against Stanford on Saturday night.

According to Scoop Duck On3’s Justin Hopkins, 4-star DL Johnny Bowens is now projected to commit to the Ducks. Hopkins logged a prediction for this to happen on Wednesday with a confidence level of 45%. It may not be high, but this is the first prediction that has been logged for Bowens to choose Oregon, and the only school other than Texas A&M to be favored to get him since the blue-chip DL de-committed from the Aggies earlier this summer.

Bowens would be a big addition to the Ducks if he did commit to Oregon. Standing at 6-foot-2, 265 pounds, Bowens ranks as the No. 227 player in the 2023 class, and the No. 34 DL.

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Johnny Bowens’ Recruiting Profile

No. 1 RB in 2024 class includes Oregon in top-12 recruiting cutdown

The Ducks are on a recruiting hot-streak at RB with coach Carlos Locklyn. The No. 1 RB in 2024 has Oregon in the mix.

The Oregon Ducks have been pretty hot on the running back recruiting trail ever since RB coach Carlos Locklyn came into the fold. They ended the 2022 recruiting cycle by flipping 4-star RB Jordan James from the Georgia Bulldogs to the Ducks, and then started out the 2023 cycle with a bang by getting a surprise commitment from 4-star RB Dante Dowdell, who is quickly playing himself into contention as one of the best backs in the nation.

So it shouldn’t be all that surprising that the Ducks are in contention to land 5-star RB Jerrick Gibson, the No. 1 ranked back in the 2024 class. On Tuesday afternoon, Gibson announced his top-12, with Oregon firmly in the mix alongside the usual suspects.

The IMG Academy star is ranked as the No. 17 overall player in the 2024 class, and will undoubtedly be a hot commodity in the recruiting world over the next 12-16 months.

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Jerrick Gibson’s Recruiting Profile

‘A dangerous duo;’ Ashton Cozart, Jurrion Dickey look to future as teammates

After spending time together on a visit in Eugene, Ashton Cozart and Jurrion Dickey are looking forward to a bright future with the Ducks.

One of the biggest reasons Oregon Duck fans have enjoyed the start of the 2022 season so much is it brought the return of a deep passing game to Eugene and uncovered one of the best wide receivers the Ducks have seen in quite some time: Troy Franklin.

So fans should be encouraged to know that in the 2023 recruiting class, a pair of potentially great receivers is getting ready to call Oregon home as well.

Five-star WR Jurrion Dickey and four-star WR Ashton Cozart were in Eugene to watch the Stanford game during unofficial visits. They witnessed a blowout while also getting in contact with a number of the other commits in Oregon’s 2023 class. With Dickey ranked by 247Sports as the No. 2 WR in 2023 (No. 14 player overall) and Cozart ranked the No. 17 WR (No. 152 player overall), it’s clear an incredibly talented duo of pass-catchers is set to take over in Eugene.

After the weekend visit, I had a chance to talk to both Dickey and Cozart about how things went. Here is some of what they had to say:

Highly-rated prospects react to big-time recruiting weekend for Oregon Ducks

A lot of the recruits appeared to have a good time in Eugene on their visits over the weekend.

A lot of the biggest recruiting weekends take place during the offseason when a coaching staff can afford to give more attention to the prospects and sell their school. However, some of the most important recruiting weekends take place during the season, when the school can sell itself.

That’s what Dan Lanning and his coaching staff were hoping would happen inside Autzen Stadium this past weekend with a number of highly rated prospects — both committed to Oregon and still uncommitted — in the building for the Ducks’ night game against the Stanford Cardinal.

The Ducks even got a surprise visit on Saturday night, as our own Zachary Neel was able to report that 5-star wide receiver Johntay Cook II — a verbal commit to the Texas Longhorns — was in town for the game as well.

The action on the field didn’t disappoint, with Oregon blowing out their rival, 45-27. By the looks of some of the reactions online, as well, it appears that the experience was memorable for a lot of these recruits as well. Here are some of the best reactions on Twitter:

WATCH: 4-star Oregon RB Dante Dowdell continues blistering start to 2022 season

4-star Oregon RB commit Dante Dowdell has been unstoppable so far this year.

At the moment, 4-star Oregon running back commit Dante Dowdell is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 19 best running back in the 2023 class. After the way that he’s been performing so far during the start of his senior year, that ranking is looking like it could go up by a lot.

To be fair, the 247Sports Composite Rankings see Dowdell in a higher light, ranking him as the No. 8 RB in the nation, while On3 has him as the No. 12 RB in 2023.

Dowdell has been nothing short of dominant in his senior season with Picayune Memorial down in Mississippi, routinely putting together highlight tapes from individual games that could trump other players’ season-long reels.

After the hot start to the season, Dowdell has been nominated for the Midseason National High School Football MVP award, according to SportsBookLive. Dowdell is one of 20 players in contention.

Have you been missing out on Dowdell’s performances thus far? Here are some of the highlights of his standout performance this past week, as well as some of his best highlights from the season:

Oregon Ducks to host 5-star recruit on surprise visit for game vs. Stanford

The Oregon Ducks are hosting a big-time 5-star recruit on a surprise visit for the Stanford game.

The Oregon Ducks just added a massive visitor to their lengthy list of highly-rated recruits that will be in attendance for the game against the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday night in Eugene.

Ducks Wire can confirm that 5-star wide receiver Johntay Cook II, a verbal commit to the Texas Longhorns, is on campus and will be at Autzen Stadium. Cook is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 5 WR in the 2023 class, and the No. 30 overall player in the nation.

Cook had the Ducks among his top 3 schools before committing to the Longhorns on June 29 of this year. This will be his third visit to Eugene, where he has had some high praise for the coaching staff under Dan Lanning.

“The new regime is amazing,” Cook said earlier in the year after visiting Oregon. “Coach Lanning is building something great over there.”

Cook, who stands at 6-foot-0, 175 pounds, is currently a member of Texas’ No. 5 ranked recruiting class in 2023, which also has No. 1 overall recruit, QB Arch Manning.

The list of visitors on Saturday night for the Ducks is lengthy. It includes several players who have already committed to Oregon, including 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey, 4-star WR Ashton Cozart, and 4-star S Tyler Turner. We are also expected to see 4-star DL Johnny Bowens, 4-star CB Daylen Austin (LSU Commit), and 4-star OT Spencer Fano.

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Johntay Cook’s Recruiting Profile