Hello my Duck-Buddies,

I was slack-jawed at two recruiting surprises today, as first....Dakota Guerrant was elevated from 4-Star to 5-Star by Rivals, which is fantastic. As you know, I favor the Rivals ratings because, 1) they are tougher with their rankings, which ultimately becomes more accurate over time, and 2) because they are consistent. I can go back 20 years and trust their rankings and it helps when comparing recruiting results of the present to the past.

But the other surprise was how he was the ONLY 5-Star recruit with Rivals! You can see it right here, and it is astounding the Xavier Sabb is not a Rivals 5-Star, nor Rashad Streets?

But I have to remember something; the Duck football staff is superb at recruiting players with upside, and it is common that every season we have many players elevated in star status. Last year I recall how Jordon Davison was elevated to 5-Star on Rivals, and was also named the Max-Prep Player of the Year for the entire state of California at the end of the year, and it was largely unnoticed. I was blown away, since it is so darn hard to get that fifth star from Rivals.

I was shouting from the rooftops to "watch out for this guy," and we know how well it turned out. (One of my 50% of the predictions that turns out right) It is my belief that we will have one, if not two 4-Stars get elevated to 5-Stars over the course of the upcoming high school football season.

In particular, we have EIGHT players who are 3-Stars with Rivals, and we routinely have multiple players get elevated to 4-Star over the course of the season in the past. My thoughts? I am thinking that three get elevated, and hope for four. (Most rational observers would say that asking for three to be elevated is a stretch, but then--I am not a rational Duck fan.)

Right now, we are No. 4 in the National Recruiting Rankings right here, and we will add a few more before December. However if my wish-list above with star elevation occurs--Oregon could move up the rankings on simply our players with upside rising in the rankings.

How many do YOU think will get elevated, and where will we end up in the HS recruiting rankings after the signing in December?

I LIKEY....Dakota Guerrant

I generally prefer 247, but I don’t think it matters all that much really.

Clearly More Accurate 😆

25 minutes ago, JabbaNoBargain said:

I generally prefer 247, but I don’t think it matters all that much really.

Clearly More Accurate 😆

To me, it is consistency which is helpful when comparing to the past. The data going back with 247 comes from their purchase of Scout.com, and that group of sites was owned by a Husky. It was more than suspicious when a 3-Star player committed to Washington...and suddenly was elevated to 4-Star.

It went the other way with Duck recruits; those who were 4-Star were often mysteriously dropped to 3-Star when they verballed to Oregon. It happened so often that it was no longer a discussion point--it was assumed; Washington's ranking was overvalued, and Oregon's was undervalued. Thus the historical data of 247 is corrupted, IMHO.

And both 247 and ESPN toss out 5-Stars as if a dime-a-dozen, especially when going to the SEC. Rivals is tougher and consistent, IMHO.

No cheating with Rivals!

Your recognition of Lanning and this staffs ability to recognize talent and develope that talent, imo, is spot on.

Mariø, while at Oregon anyhow, not so much.

It would be interesting to see the book of prospects that Oregon already has on the radar for the next few years. We all know that the effort needed to keep that “prospecting wheel” turning is a top priority.

It would be interesting to see the database that they use. It would be football geek nirvana.

7 hours ago, JabbaNoBargain said:

I generally prefer 247, but I don’t think it matters all that much really.

Clearly More Accurate 😆

The 247 composite has us at #3. It is an average of 247, Rivals, and ESPN…better than 4.