Oregon Football Recruiting: Looking Ahead to 2016 Class
The Oregon football season has long since been over, but that doesn’t mean the folks in Eugene aren’t busy making noise.
Not only did the Ducks lock up athletic director Rob Mullens for another six years Monday, according to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, but the school has also agreed to a five-year contract extension with head coach Mark Helfrich that is worth $17.5 million.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s 2015 recruiting class is officially set, as Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. has decided to transfer to Eugene for his final season of eligibility.
The addition of Adams, who will join the Ducks once he graduates from Eastern Washington in June, is huge for the Oregon program. While he’s not been guaranteed the starting job, he will be the most experienced and talented QB on the roster come summer camp.
With the addition of Adams, the contract extensions for Mullens and Helfrich and the 2015 recruiting season over, the Ducks seem to have finally closed the door on the 2014-15 season.
Now it’s time for all of the coaches to turn their attention to the class of 2016.
The Ducks finished the 2015 recruiting season with 22 commitments, the No. 3 recruiting class in the Pac-12, trailing USC and UCLA, and the No. 16 class in the country, according to 247Sports.
While the Ducks certainly added a lot of talent with their 2015 class, there are some areas in which they need to recruit heavily in 2016.
Where do the Ducks need help, and who should they target? Here’s a way-too-early primer.
Commitments So Far
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Mark Helfrich and his staff have managed to grab three commitments from the 2016 class so far.
The standout of this class right now is clearly 4-star QB Seth Green. Green, the No. 6 dual-threat QB in the 2016 class, according to 247Sports, hails from Saint Paul, Minnesota, though he may be transferring to a school in Texas.
With the addition of Adams, Oregon will have six QBs on its roster next season, though Adams is only eligible to play for one season. Assuming that Green replaces Adams on the roster, he would be competing against the likes of Travis Waller, Morgan Mahalak, Jeff Lockie and others in 2016.
Oregon’s two other commitments are both 3-star players. The first is Brady Breeze, a 6’0” safety from Central Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon. Breeze is the No. 18 safety in the country, according to 247Sports, and is ranked as the No. 1 player in the state, as is Green in Minnesota.
The last early commitment comes from Dillon Mitchell, a 6’1”, 180-pound wide receiver from Memphis, Tennessee. Mitchell is the No. 10 player in Tennessee and the No. 62 receiver in the country, according to 247Sports.
Mitchell is also a 3-star basketball prospect and plans on playing basketball and football at Oregon.
Offensive Targets to Know
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Wide Receivers
While Oregon’s offense looks to be stacked with playmakers for the foreseeable future, the Ducks will lose Byron Marshall after this season, and players like Dwayne Stanford and Bralon Addison will be seniors in 2016.
The Ducks are always on the lookout for skill position players who have speed and are versatile. In 2016, there are a couple of players who fit the Oregon playmaker mold.
Look for Oregon to try and bring in 4-star Devin Duvernay from Texas, 4-star Darian Owens from California, 4-star Charlie Woerner from Georgia and 4-star Theo Howard from California.
It’s going to be tough for Oregon to pry Duvernay away from the state of Texas, but as the No. 6 wideout in the nation, it would be worth Oregon’s time to pursue him.
Tight Ends
Oregon has four tight ends on their roster in Pharaoh Brown, Evan Baylis, Koa Ka’ai and Johnny Mundt, as well as incoming freshman Jacob Breeland.
That being said, there’s real value for tight ends in Oregon’s offense, and it looks like there are two very solid prospects for the Ducks to recruit in 2016.
The first is 3-star Cameron McCormick from Bend, Oregon. McCormick is the No. 21 TE in the country and the No. 2 player in the state, according to 247Sports. At 6’5”, 230 pounds, McCormick could be Oregon’s best TE option in a couple of years.
The other player is 4-star TE Luke Farrell from Perry, Ohio. Farrell is ranked as the No. 7 TE in the country, the No. 181 player in America and is 6’6”, 240 pounds. While stealing him away from Ohio would be difficult, remember that Brown is from Cleveland. It’s not impossible.
Defensive Targets to Know
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Linebackers
Oregon lost a pair of linebackers in Tony Washington and Derrick Malone this season and will lose Rodney Hardrick, Tyson Coleman, Joe Walker and Christian French after next season. Needless to say, replenishing the linebacker position is at the top of the priority list in 2016.
The Ducks secured three linebackers in 2015, two of which—Jonah Moi and Paris Bostick—are junior college transfers. They’ll need at least three more in the 2016 class.
Some names to look out for are 5-star Caleb Kelly, 4-stars Michael Divinity, Dontavious Jackson, Carter Coughlin, Jeffrey McCulloch and Camilo Eifler and 3-star Jango Glackin.
The prized recruit of the six players mentioned is Kelly, who is ranked as the No. 13 player in the country, according to 247Sports. Kelly is a 6’3”, 215-pound outside linebacker from Clovis West High School in Fresno, California.
Defensive Linemen
Oregon’s most prized recruit in the 2015 class, 5-star Canton Kaumatule, is a defensive lineman who was desperately needed due to the departure of Arik Armstead.
In 2016, the Ducks will lose Alex Balducci, Tui Talia and DeForest Buckner to graduation. Linebacker may be a more critical need for the Ducks; however, defensive line will also be a point of emphasis in this class.
In terms of prospects the Ducks may target, the two best prospects on their board are 4-star Devin Asiasi from Concord, California, and 4-star Bryson Young from Clovis, California. Both players are tall and fast, which is exactly what the Ducks are looking for.
Other prospects the Ducks could make a run at include Rahshaun Smith, LaMar Winston, Josh King, Isaiah Chambers, Jonathan Marshall and Thomas Schaffer.
Speed Needs
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If there’s any one word that truly defines the Oregon football program, it is speed. There’s nothing the Ducks value more than speed and versatility.
Every Oregon recruiting class has numerous players who can play different positions, yet they all have speed in common. That’s what Oregon thrives on, so that’s what it recruits.
In the 2015 class, the Ducks brought in three of the top five all-purpose backs in the country in Taj Griffin, Malik Lovette and Kirk Merritt. Don’t expect the Ducks to change up their ways just because they have those three players in the building next year.
Other than the wide receivers we mentioned before, you can expect Oregon to go after players like 4-star running back Elijah Holyfield (yes, Evander’s son), 4-star cornerbacks Jared Mayden and David Long, 4-star safety Shurod Thompson and 3-star wideout Keion Wakefield.
As they say in Eugene: speed kills.
National Brand
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There’s been some criticism of Oregon’s in-state recruiting efforts, as chronicled by John Canzano of The Oregonian. The Ducks failed to sign a single player from the state of Oregon in 2015, which shouldn’t be a big deal. Though I understand the criticism, I don’t think it’s warranted.
Oregon is fortunate enough to be in a position where it can walk into any living room in the entire country. And, if we’re being honest, Oregon doesn’t exactly have a dazzling reputation in terms of producing tons of FBS talent.
Coach Mark Helfrich summed it up best when he said, via Canzano, "I think part of it is just the Oregon brand and as that's grown the Pac-12 recruiting footprint is the world now. We'll go anywhere."
Oregon is a national brand. The job is to find the best recruits in the country who want to come to Oregon and play for one of the best teams in America. It doesn’t matter if they’re from Oregon or California or Mars.
Oregon should be doubling down on its efforts to bring in players from across the country, so long as they’re a good fit for Oregon’s system.
As Stephen Pettigrew of FiveThirtyEight points out, Oregon is the second-best program in the nation since 2005 at getting the most production from its recruiting class as compared to its recruiting class’ ranking.
Whatever Oregon is doing, it’s been working pretty well. There’s no reason to mess with a good thing.
Statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise stated. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.com. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.
Jason Gold is Bleacher Report’s lead Oregon writer. Follow Jason on Twitter @TheSportsGuy33.
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