DSC Inside Read

 

With the fireworks leading up to July fourth last week on the recruiting trail for Oregon, the Ducks head into what promises to be another exciting week on the recruiting trail. Some notes ahead of this week:

Jalen Lott is set to commit tomorrow and as I mentioned last week, the dominoes have worked in Oregon’s favor here. For most of this recruiting cycle, Lott had been considered a strong lean to USC with his sister already running track for the team – but the Trojans took their fifth wide receiver with the commitment from Boobie Feaster over the weekend leaving Lott to pick between Oregon and Texas.

The Longhorns might make a late push here given that lost Kaydon Finley to Notre Dame, but the Ducks look like the team to beat heading into tomorrow. Lott also wants to participate in the jumps at Oregon and the Duck track team might be a difference maker along with a solid overall plan for the elite wide receiver.

There is also a second commit like coming this week. Who could that be?

This one is a little more difficult because there is a lot of noise out there around some folks.

I don’t see this as being Nick Abrams who is committing next week. The Ducks are high on his list, but right now there is not a lot of confidence on Abrams picking Oregon from inside the program. Obviously, that does not mean the Ducks are out, they are still working to keep themselves in the race, but with Tyler Atkinson looking most likely to head to Georgia, some of the other schools picked up their recruitment of Abrams and it would not surprise me to see hm stay close to home.

There are some inside the staff who feel really good about their position with Deuce Geralds. After my conversations with him in Hawaii, that is no surprise. He has liked Oregon for a long time and his official visit to Eugene just made the feeling stronger. He loves the way that Oregon is building the defensive line and sees the chance for Oregon to have an elite (think top five) defense and that he would fit very well schematically. He has not set an official date to commit, so right now, there are some who feel that Geralds might be one of those commits Hayes Fawcett referenced after the wave of commits ending July 3^rd intimating that at least two more are coming this week.

Another note here – not because he is committing soon, and not because I think he is one of the two that Fawcett was referencing, but the staff have a higher confidence level in their spot with Tank Jones than I do. We know that the Ducks are looking to add an elite edge and would love a player like Jones. There is a strong push there – especially given Richard Wesley’s commitment to Texas.

Speaking of Wesley, while fans see the things going on with Wesley and might be turned off and want to move on, a lot of times the external noise we see does not match what might be happening behind the scenes. In other words, the staff are going to keep up conversations with Wesley. I think his recruitment will take a couple more twists over the next few months, so it would not surprise me at all if Oregon keeps pushing here behind the scenes.

I know people would love to see if Iheanacho might find a way to bring Zion Elee back around and all I can say is that in my interactions with him I did not get the sense that he was going to be flippable for Oregon.

Just like Texas Tech did with Felix Ojo, this one feels like Maryland really wanted to keep an elite edge close to home and might have put up the kind of offer that others can’t or won’t match.

Sure, things can change and maybe if Maryland struggles on the field this season there could be some movement, but right now, I don’t think that the staff feels like that is where they want to push for edge.