Oregon Recruiting Update (With Videos And Capsules)

Posted on 12. Nov, 2011 at 2:59 pm by Braga in Oregon Ducks Football, Recruiting

It has been a while since I’ve posted on here, what with having a new daughter and all, so I figure what better way to get back at it than with a recruiting update.

Kinger mentioned to me last week that there was somedumbbitch on Twitter squawking about how Oregon is struggling in recruiting for the 2012 class. It was during Washington week, so all matter of logic and reasoning usually go out the window, but I figure it couldn’t hurt to give a refresher on the guys Oregon has commits from, and what’s been going on since my post about Jeff Lockie a long-ass time ago.

Look, Oregon isn’t in the top five in the country for recruiting. It never will be simply because it’s Oregon — the state, not the school. Getting good players, most of which reside east of The Rockies, is never going to be a consistent thing because Eugene is small, wet, and cold. I live in Eugene and love it to death, but we’re talking about elite athletes who want to go out and do things a big city has to offer, and if that’s not possible at least get some sun while being bored. Eugene (and the entire state of Oregon for that matter) has neither of those.

Oregon’s draw since Chip Kelly took over has clearly been its coaches. Uniforms, Nike and facilities are nice, but Chip Kelly, Scott Frost, Steve Greatwood, Gary Campbell, etc. have a reputation for turning marginal kids into superstars on Saturdays. Higher rated athletes now see that and think, “Shit, I could win a Heisman and peace-out after three years. Works for me.” De’Anthony Thomas, anyone? That’s why they had success recruiting great athletes last year, and that’s why they will continue to as long as those guys are around.

But that said, it takes more than that to get a lot of five star kids out to Eugene. So you have to figure Oregon will get its one five star a year, surround him with a bunch of four stars, support them with a lot of three stars, get a couple unrated kids and be super happy about all of it. It’s pretty obvious the coaches are really good at getting the most out of kids, and can put them in the best position possible to be successful. Jeff Maehl and Kenjon Barner are great examples. Both started on defense and switched to offense out of necessity and then killed it. The coaches know what they’re doing, and while star ratings are nice, all they really tell you is what certain Web sites think of players. Most of the time they’re right. A lot of the time they’re not.

*hops off soap box

Oregon has a solid class so far. Let’s not get it twisted. And the cool thing about it is that they’re keeping most of the really good Oregon recruits in state. Since my last post, Oregon got a commitment from Brett Bafaro, a four-star linebacker from Liberty High School in Hillsboro. He joins U.S. Army All-American defensive end Alex Balducci from Central Catholic and three-star athlete Oshay Dunmore from Newport as three of the best recruits Oregon high school football has to offer, who chose to join The Ducks. That never used to happen, and the quality of player has never been as good as it’s been in the last few years.

A lot was been made over the last few years that Oregon wasn’t keeping those higher rated local guys around as Owamagbe Odighizuwa chose UCLA and Gabe King (not really local, but he went to South Eugene for one year) went to Cal. But that same year, Oregon kept Keanon Lowe and Curtis White, and the following year got Colt Lyerla and Tyson Coleman on board. Oregon high school football is a lot better than it used to be, and there are superstars coming out of the state. Oregon is already the favorite for 2013  running back Thomas Tyner. He’s listed at No. 8 overall on 247sports.com, and he’s widely regarded as the best running back the state has ever had. He ran a 10.35 100m as a sophomore. It’s the fastest a Oregon high school athlete has ever run. Think about it like this: he’s faster than De’Anthony Thomas, but is 6-foot 210 pounds. Wow. His only downside is he’s injury-prone. AH-CurtisWhite-EM! Stay tuned on that one. There’s still a really long time until his signing day, but with LMJ and Barner gone at that point it seems like Oregon would be a perfect fit, inevitable NCAA punishment aside.

Anyway, here’s who Oregon has commits from so far.

Enjoy. You should.

Oregon’s 2012 Commits So Far:

Defense: 

Alex Balducci, DE, 6’4″ 262 lbs. Central Catholic High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 79 OVR; No. 45-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.9 rating; No. 8-ranked DE; No. 99 in Rivals 100.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 48-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 22-ranked SDE.
• U.S. Army All American.

Cody Carriger, DE, 6’6″ 230 lbs. Butte High School (MT.)

• ESPN: Not rated; 45 OVR.
• Rivals: Two-star; 5.4 rating; No. 3-ranked player in Montana.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Not rated.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 87 OVR.
• ESPN camp results: 4.85 40-yard dash, 4.79 20-yard shuttle, 33.6 vertical jump.

Photo by Walter Hinick/Montana Standard

Oshay Dunmore, S, 6’2″ 195 lbs. Newport High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 74-ranked ATH.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 35-ranked ATH.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 59-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 20-ranked ATH.

Eric Amoako, S, 5’11″ 190 lbs. Martin High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 28-ranked S.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 47-ranked S.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 54-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 84 OVR.

Photo from Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Stephen Amoako, CB, 5’10″ 175 lbs. Martin High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 35-ranked CB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 62-ranked CB.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 59-ranked CB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 87 OVR.

Jeremy Castro, DE, 6’1″ 240 lbs. Vista Murrieta High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 101-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 21-ranked WDE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 18-ranked OLB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 84 OVR; No. 38-ranked WDE.

Terrence “TJ” Daniel, ATH, 6’7″ 240 lbs. Bishop O’Dowd High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 100-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Not rated.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Two-star; No. 87-ranked TE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 53-ranked ATH.

Bryce Cottrell, DE, 6’3″ 230 lbs. Plano West Senior High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Two-star; 74 OVR; No. 110-ranked OLB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 45-ranked SDE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 60-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 87 OVR.

Offense:

Evan Baylis, TE, 6’5″ 220 lbs. Grandview High School (Co.)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 11-ranked TE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 10-ranked TE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 8-ranked TE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 9-ranked TE; No. 225 in 247.com Top 247.

Jeff Lockie, QB, 6’2″ 185 lbs. Monte Vista High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Two-star; 74 OVR; No. 104-ranked QB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 49-ranked QB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Not rated.

Jake Rodrigues, QB, 6’2″ 210 lbs. Whitney High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 11-ranked QB.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 7-ranked pro-style QB; No. 148 on Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 14-ranked QB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 13-ranked pro-style QB.
• Elite 11 Quarterback
• Video Highlights: Here.

Tags: Alex Balducci, Alex Braga, Brett Bafaro, Bryce Cottrell, Chip Kelly, Cody Carriger, Eric Amoako, Evan Baylis, Jake Rodrigues, Jeff Lockie, Jeremy Castro, oregon football, Oregon Recruiting, Oshay Dunmore, Recruiting, Scott Frost, Stephen Amoako, TJ Daniel