Tag: Oregon recruiting

Could former UW 4-star WR Germie Bernard be in play for Ducks after release?

4-star Washington commit Germie Bernard is reportedly being granted a release from his NLI after Junior Adams’ departure. Might he follow Adams to Eugene?

Another tough blow was handed to the Washington Huskies this week when the NCAA reportedly ruled that 4-star WR Germie Bernard, who signed his National Letter of Intent with UW, would be granted a release from his NLI according to a report published recently by 247 Sports.

Bernard, a 6-foot-2 WR from Liberty High in Nevada, is ranked as the No. 33 receiver in the 2022 recruiting class, and the No. 220 player overall. He had been committed to Washington, and even after head coach Jimmy Lake was fired, stayed committed with the knowledge that Huskies’ wide receiver coach Junior Adams would be retained by the team under new HC Kalen DeBoer.

That has since changed, though, with Adams now being hired as the new WR coach and co-offensive coordinator by the Oregon Ducks in the past week. Now, Bernard has requested and reportedly been granted a release from his NLI. His recruiting is back open, and according to 247 Sports’ Crystal Ball, it’s forecasted that he will end up with the Michigan State Spartans, who made a big push for him before the early signing period.

While the Ducks offered the young WR, they have never been a major player for Bernard. However, the fact that they now are home to the coach that brought him to Washington can’t be overlooked. Junior Adams is said to be a great recruiter and he obviously has sway with Bernard, seeing as the 4-star recruit was willing to stay committed to Washington as long as Adams was still going to be there.

As we’ve seen Dan Lanning fill out his coaching staff at Oregon, many of the new guys are said to be strong recruiters with ties on the west coast. So if Bernard is to make a decision over the next couple of weeks, and the lead recruiter that brought him to Washington is now just a couple of hundred miles south at a similar school, might he consider a flip to the Ducks?

It’s certainly something to watch over the coming days.

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3-star WR Stephon Johnson de-commits from Oregon Ducks

3-star WR Stephon Johnson has de-committed from Oregon. The Ducks currently have 0 receivers signed or committed in the 2022 class.

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The lone-standing committed wide receiver in the Oregon Ducks’ 2022 recruiting class has de-committed and reopened his recruitment as of Wednesday night.

Stephon Johnson, a 3-star receiver from DeSoto, Texas, announced on Twitter that he would be taking some time to reconsider what is best for his future.

Johnson is rated as the No. 69 WR in the nation, and the No. 524 overall player in the 2022 class.

After being recruited by Bryan McClendon and the coaching staff that has now largely followed Mario Cristobal to Miami, it is not a shock that Johnson de-committed from Oregon. As Dan Lanning comes to Eugene and works to build up the 2022 class, it has become clear that WR is a major place of need.

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4-star CB and former Oregon commit Jahlil Florence lists Ducks in top-5

4-star CB Jahlil Florence de-committed from the Ducks after Mario Cristobal left, but he included Oregon in his top-5 again ahead of signing day.

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After former Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal took his talents to South Beach, there was a mass exodus of recruits that de-committed from the program and chose to reassess their options for the future.

4-star cornerback Jahlil Florence was one of those players.

The 6-foot-1 DB out of San Diego was originally a member of Oregon’s 2022 class but decided that he would reopen his recruitment and take some time to decide where he would go to school next season. His high school teammate, Jalil Tucker, went ahead and signed his NLI with the Ducks in the Early Signing Period after initially de-committing, but we’re still waiting to see if Florence will do the same.

Florence announced on Wednesday that his top-five schools were the Oregon Ducks, Miami Hurricanes, Oklahoma Sooners, USC Trojans, and Florida Gators.

 

Florence is currently rated as the No. 26 CB in the nation, and the No. 202 player overall.

The Ducks recently saw a win on the recruiting front when 2023 4-star CB Cole Martin committed to the Ducks, signaling that he will follow his father, Oregon’s new cornerbacks’ coach Demetrice Martin, to Eugene.

There is no word yet on when Florence will be making his decision, but with National Signing Day taking place on February 2nd, it’s something to monitor over the coming weeks.

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Dan Lanning on Ducks: ‘We can go anywhere in the nation and be able to sign players’

Dan Lanning seems confident in his ability to recruit top players to the Ducks, using Oregon’s national brand to do so.

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Now that the 2021 college football season is over for the Oregon Ducks, many fans are looking towards the future and getting excited about the next era. The Dan Lanning era.

While Lanning is still entrenched in his work down that the University of Georgia, where the No. 3 Bulldogs have a rematch set with the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide for January 10th in the national championship game, Oregon’s future coach has been able to split his duties incredibly well, working to keep his current team ready while setting up the pieces for his future team.

Over the past month, Lanning has been able to fill out his new coaching staff with the Ducks and hire some of the best position coaches available, while also scheming up a defense that held the Michigan Wolverines to just 11 points in the Orange Bowl.

Another place where Lanning has excelled is in the recruiting game. Heralded as one of the best recruiters in the nation, Oregon’s head coach has been able to get a jump start on the 2023 recruiting class, recently getting a verbal commitment from 4-star CB Cole Martin, the No. 65 prospect in the nation.

In his most recent press conference with the Bulldogs, Lanning was asked about what he hopes to bring along with him from Athens to Eugene. His recruiting ability, along with Oregon’s national brand, was a big part of his answer.

“One of the big benefits obviously being at Oregon is it is a national brand,” Lanning said. “We can go anywhere in the nation and be able to sign players. I think you bring that relentless pursuit that we operate with day in and day out here and the organization behind it. We can bring the mentality of how we play football to a certain level. I’ve been very fortunate to have high-quality experience in my time whether it be here at Georgia or Memphis or Alabama or some of the other places I’ve been able to visit and coach.”

The Ducks currently don’t have one of the better recruiting classes in the 2022 rankings, where they currently sit at No. 56 after the departure of Mario Cristobal and the number of de-commitments that brought. However, things are certainly looking up, with a number of highly-ranked prospects including Oregon in their final decisions. Recently, Josh Conerly Jr., the No. 1 rated OT in the nation, included the Ducks in his top-6, and 2023 5-star QB Nicholas Iamaleava included Oregon in his top-12.

It’s developments like that which can put Oregon back on the map, but Lanning knows it’s still going to take work to land the recruits.

“Taking all that out there I think will be really important and then the biggest thing is learning from that experience. Not any situation is the exact same, but recruiting ultimately at the end of the day comes down to work,” Lanning said. “It’s going to take work to get great players at Oregon. And we have the ability to get great players and great players should want to come there.”

While his time has been split between two incredibly important jobs over the past month, it’s been impressive to see what Lanning has been able to do while wearing two hats. In a matter of days, his time at Georgia will be over, and he can focus all of his attention on the Ducks.

We can’t wait to see what happens then.

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No. 1 OT in 2022 class, Josh Conerly, includes Oregon Ducks in Top 6

The Ducks missed out on 5-star OT Kelvin Banks, but they could still bring in a massive commitment from Josh Conerly, the nation’s No. 1 OT.

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Because of the timing of his hiring with the Oregon Ducks, head coach Dan Lanning did not have a great opportunity to build much of a recruiting class before the early signing period.

However, the pieces are starting to line up for what could be a huge 2022 recruiting class before all is said and done.

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Most recently, 5-star OT Josh Conerly, the No. 1 rated offensive tackle in the entire class, listed the Ducks in his top 6 while saying that his recruiting has been closed. Conerly stands at 6-foot-5, 275 pounds and is from Rainier Beach, in Seattle.

The other five times included along with the Ducks were Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Oklahoma, USC and Washington.

Conerly is rated as the No. 9 overall prospect in the 2022 class. There is no word yet on when he will make his final decision, but it will have to come before signing day on February 2nd.

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5 transfer portal wide receivers that the Oregon Ducks should try to recruit

The Ducks need a veteran playmaker to help fill out the wide receiver room. There are certainly some viable options in the transfer portal.

We’re at that point in the offseason where a bunch of college football players are taking a look at their standings and assessing their futures with current teams. Many of those players are deciding that it would behoove them to enter the transfer portal and try to find a new school to play football at, hoping that it will give them the necessary playing time that they need to potentially make the leap to the next level.

We recently saw it at Oregon, with both QB Robby Ashford and DT Jayson Jones departing Eugene. It also happened when former Auburn QB Bo Nix decided to pack up and head to the Pacific Northwest and join what Dan Lanning and the Ducks are building.

While we’ve seen a few splashes so far, there are so many great players left sitting in the transfer portal, waiting to make their decisions. For the Ducks, this is a prime opportunity to get some ready-made prospects to help your team in 2022. They aren’t 5-star recruits with a ton of upside down the road, but rather former 3- and 4-star recruits who have proven that they can play at the college level.

There are several areas of need on Oregon’s roster for next season, but one of the main ones is at the wide receiver position. With the loss of Johnny Johnson III, Jaylon Redd, and Mycah Pittman, the Ducks are currently thin on the outside, and while they have a lot of talent in some young freshmen, they need depth.

Here are 5 players who we think they can try to recruit and fill out that spot:

4-star DB Cole Martin commits to Oregon Ducks for class of 2023

2023 4-star DB Cole Martin has committed to the Oregon Ducks, where he will play under his father, Demetrice Martin, the new CB coach.

The Dan Lanning era is starting off on a high note for the Oregon Ducks, with 4-star DB Cole Martin committing to the Ducks on the first day of the new year.

Martin, who is the nation’s No. 87 prospect in the class of 2023, is also the son of Demetrice Martin, who recently agreed to become the cornerbacks’ coach for Oregon under new head coach Dan Lanning.

Martin picked Oregon over some high-profile schools, including Alabama, Notre Dame, USC and 30 other programs. Martin told 247 Sports in December that he was choosing between USC, UCLA, Arizona State and Colorado. However, after his father was hired by the Ducks, it doesn’t come as a major shock that the 4-star DB would pick Eugene in the end.

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Report: Oregon set to hire New Mexico’s Drew Mehringer as tight ends coach

It looks like Drew Mehringer is coming to Eugene as the new TE coach for the Ducks. In 2019, Mehringer was voted the National Recruiter of the Year by @Rivals.

The morning after their 2021 football season officially came to an end, the Oregon Ducks made a flurry of reported coaching moves. One of the more intriguing hires is tight ends coach Drew Mehringer, who has spent the last several seasons with New Mexico, FAU, Texas, and Rutgers. Mehringer has spent time working with wide receivers and quarterbacks and was the offensive coordinator with Rutgers in 2016.

As is a common trend with recent Oregon coaching hires, Mehringer was named the Rivals National Recruiter of the Year in 2019, and he will bring a huge value to the offensive staff over the next several years where the Ducks already have a load of young talent at the TE position, with both Terrance Ferguson and Moliki Matavao getting great experience as freshmen.

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Ducks make Top-12 for 5-star QB Nicholaus Iamaleava Jr. in 2023

Nicholaus Iamaleava Jr., a 5-star QB in the class of 2023, listed the Oregon Ducks in his top-12.

Things are certainly looking up for the Oregon Ducks on the recruiting trail, with 5-star QB prospect Nicholaus Iamaleava Jr. announcing his top-12 schools for the future, including the Ducks.

According to 247Sports, Iamaleava is ranked as the No. 17 player in the class of 2023, and the No. 4 rated quarterback.

Iamaleava has a few other Pac-12 schools on his list, including Oregon State and UCLA. The 5-star recruit also is looking at Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Alabama.

Though he won’t announce his commitment for quite some time, it’s a win for the Ducks to at least be in the running. After the turnover the followed the departure of Mario Cristobal, Oregon has seen a few wins on the recruiting front recently, with Dan Lanning convincing RB Seven McGee to stay in Eugene, and OT Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu to opt-out of the 2022 NFL draft and come back for one last season with the Ducks.

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Ranking 2022 Pac-12 teams by commitments’ average talent rating after early signing period

The 2022 Pac-12 recruiting classes look much different based on player rating, rather than the class as a whole. Oregon and USC fans, you’ll want to read this.

The early signing period in college football recruiting is now behind us, and there are a few different ways to look at the number of recruiting classes across the country.

Over the weekend, we took a looked at how the classes stacked up in the Pac-12, where a late flip from 4-star WR Tetairoa McMillan caused the Oregon Ducks to plummet down the rankings while boosting the Arizona Wildcats. Those rankings were measured by the strength of the overall class, though, and not based on the individual recruits. For any Oregon fan who may have been disappointed by the Ducks’ No. 5 ranking in the conference, I urge you to use these new rankings instead.

We want to look at where each Pac-12 class shakes out when you look a the average rating of players, rather than the class as a whole. Unsure of what that means? Here is an example:

The Stanford Cardinal were ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 according to overall class rating, with 227 recruiting points, according to 247Sports. So far, they have 22 total commits, with four 4-stars and 17 3-stars. Is that class wildly better than the USC Trojans, who have a pair of 5-star signings already, but only 7 total commits?

It’s hard to say yes.

So when we look at these classes according to the average rating of recruits, the rankings start to look much different. For Oregon Duck fans, that may please you.