Recruiting Hits & Misses on Defense Have Led to the Recent Collapse

Jason Fowler Recruiting

Statistically there is no denying how low the Oregon Ducks football team has gone on the defensive side of the ball. The cause of this rapid decline can be blamed on poor coaching, lack of buying into the system or the increase in talent for other schools to make the Pac-12 more balanced top to bottom. Those ideas are intriguing …

Recruiting Strategy: Shift of Focus

Nik Brownlee FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

After bringing in a strong class last year, Oregon got off to an amazing start on the 2016 recruiting trail. Some people, including myself, believed this class was going to be one of, if not the best freshman classes in UO history. Now, after key targets have committed elsewhere and other recruits have decommitted from the Ducks, it’s important to realize that …

Ducks Miss on Another LB Recruit, but Future Still Bright at LB

Aaron Lewis FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Friday evening, the Ducks experienced a blow to their recruiting momentum. Highly-recruited four-star LB Bryce Youngquist committed to the Oklahoma Sooners despite saying in June there was a “90 percent” chance that he would commit to Oregon. This comes on the heels of Oregon narrowly missing on many of their top linebacker targets in the class of 2015. More recently, in addition …

Recruiting Update: Oregon Plants Flag in Southern California

Mark Flores FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

News With every passing recruiting cycle, Oregon seems to entrench a deeper foothold into once-untamable territory. Almost four days removed since linebacker Darrian Franklin (4-Star/Downey, CA/Rivals250) made his pledge to journey north to Eugene for his college career, the tone of Oregon’s rise in the minds of young west coast recruits is now undeniable; the Los Angeles area is now …

Oregon Football Recruiting Analysis: Linebackers

Jason Fowler FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

The importance of linebackers is somewhat unnoticeable until the unit becomes inefficient. The 2015 recruiting class saw Oregon bring in three linebackers — one true freshman inside linebacker, Fotu Leiato (who may end up on the outside, or even at safety), and two junior college outside linebackers, Jonah Moi and Paris Bostick. Obviously, there will be a need for outside linebackers in two …