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Dan Lanning and company made the best of what they could with the 2022 class on short time. Now let’s see what the Ducks do with a full year to recruit.
There was a lot of smiling from Dan Lanning and his staff on college football’s national signing day — and for good reason.
Despite a program-record 16 players decommitting after Mario Cristobal left for Miami, Lanning landed a top-25 group that included three of the top four players from the state of Oregon and notable signing day wins of All-American running back Jordan James and four-star lineman Dave Luli, who was hotly pursued by Cristobal and Miami.
It wasn’t the top-10 class the Ducks have landed in recent years, but considering the circumstances it was a stellar job for Lanning in his first test as a head coach.
But Lanning didn’t become Oregon’s head coach at 35 years of age by thinking in the present. So while the Ducks were putting the final touches on the 2022 class, the years 2023 and 2024 were very much at the forefront.
“We’ve already been able to have a couple of guys on campus with the unofficial period this past month,” Lanning said. “We’ll definitely attack that coming in March. One of the biggest things that we can do as a fan base and as a staff is focusing on getting guys here for the 23rd for our spring game.”
That’s April 23 at 1 p.m., and most in the Oregonsphere know that by now because it’s a point Lanning is really trying to get across. He said the same at halftime of the Oregon men’s basketball game against Oregon State last week.
“I can promise you that we’re going to put a product on the field that you’re going to be proud of,” Lanning said to a crowd of 10,000 fans at Matthew Knight Arena.
The spring game will be a springboard for momentum for Oregon’s future recruiting classes. And now that the 2022 class is – mostly – in the books, here are 10 players to keep an eye on for the next wave.
1. Riley Williams, Central Catholic (Portland), Tight end
6-foot-6, 230 pounds. No. 109 overall, No. 6 TE
The Ducks have a stable of talented tight ends, including three four-star sophomores in Terrance Ferguson, Molokai Matavao and Patrick Herbert. The Ducks aren’t desperate here, but Williams checks several boxes, especially the in-state ones. Williams is a rare homegrown top-100 player — the type that Lanning has pledged to not let out of his grasp.
“My very first day I could get on the road, I spent that time in Oregon and that time in Portland and that area,” Lanning said. “That will always be a priority for us.”
2. Nicholaus Iamaleava, Warren (Downey, Calif.), Quarterback
6-foot-5, 195 pounds. No. 16 overall, No. 4 QB
The hope is that Oregon’s quarterback situation plays itself out in 2022. In fact, the Ducks would be elated if redshirt freshman Ty Thompson capitalized on the potential that made him the highest-rated QB recruit to ever sign with Oregon. But if things are still in flux here in 2022, they certainly are up in the air for future classes. And while the Ducks will have massive competition for Iamaleava, the No. 4 overall quarterback in the country, he’s the exact type of talent the Ducks should zero in on. Iamaleava unofficially visited in January, he has 20-plus offers and has previous experience with Lanning when he was at Georgia, along with Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, who offered Iamaleava when he held the same position at Florida State.
3. Gabarri Johnson, Lincoln (Tacoma, Wash.), Quarterback
6-foot, 200 pounds. No. 198 overall, No. 12 QB
If you’re going to go out trophy fishing, at least make sure the fridge is stocked if you come home empty. So while focusing on a player of Iamaleava’s level is great, the Ducks will also need to tend to players like Johnson, a four-star in-the-area prospect who has been a great dual-threat up in Tacoma. He gets comparisons to former Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley and has offers from most of the Pac-12’s major players. If he’s not playing QB for the Ducks at Autzen, there’s a good chance he’s playing there against the Ducks at some point.
4. Roderick Robinson II, Lincoln (San Diego, Calif.), RB
6-foot-1, 230 pounds, No. 414, No. 25
Look, the Ducks are obviously going to shoot for some bigger names here. Even with a young backfield, the Ducks will likely aim for four-stars like Lake Stevens’ (Wash.) Jayden Limar, or go all out for Richard Young, the No. 1 running back in the country.
But let’s talk about Roderick Robinson II for a minute. Ever since Royce Freeman left, it feels like Oregon’s been stuck in a rut of having undersized running backs dashing behind strong offensive lines. And with all due respect to CJ Verdell and Travis Dye, Roderick Robinson II is not undersized. He’s 230 pounds, he just picked up an offer from USC and I’m putting him on this list in good part because I think it would be awesome to hear Jerry Allen calling that name on the radio.
He’s former teammates with recent Oregon signees Jalil Tucker and Jahlil Florence, and has set himself an August commitment date.
5. Jurrion Dickey, Valley Christian (Palo Alto, Calif.), WR
6-foot-2, 210 pounds, No. 128, No. 14 athlete
Nabbing a skilled receiver (or three) is near the top of Oregon’s priority list and Dickey makes for an intriguing prospect. One of the biggest challenges of the Cristobal era saw Oregon fighting for players in California, not against the likes of USC and UCLA, but against preying teams from the Southeast looking to poach the West Coast’s best.
Well, Cristobal and Miami are in the mix for Dickey — as is Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, UCLA, USC and Washington — meaning that Lanning and his staff have quite the challenge in landing one of this side of the country’s most impactful athletes.
6. Francis Mauigoa, IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), Offensive tackle
6-foot-6, 325 pounds, No. 6 overall, No. 2 OT
With his size, Mauigoa is the type of lineman you could imagine hearing Cristobal wax poetic about for hours. And that will certainly be a challenge the current Oregon staff faces in recruiting Mauigoa, who visited Oregon last summer and will likely still be hotly recruited by Cristobal in Miami. With the first-hand experience Lanning got in the SEC seeing the type of athletes needed to win in those trenches, the Ducks are going to put up a fight here. Offensive line coach Adrian Klemm certainly has big shoes to fill, as former Oregon OL coach Alex Mirabal had been one of Oregon’s most productive recruiters the last two seasons.
7. Tre Edwards, Mater Dei (Chula Vista, Calif.), linebacker
6-foot-1, 220 pounds, No. 142 overall, No. 9 linebacker
The Ducks saw some of their greatest recruiting wins of the last four years happen at linebacker, with the massive additions of five-stars Noah Sewell and Justin Flowe, as well as four-star pieces like Mase Funa and Adrian Jackson. Sewell has been the most productive of the group and it’s very likely that he’s one season away from the NFL. Flowe, despite two season-ending injuries, is enough of a freak athlete to be in the same conversation. The Ducks need some depth here and the recently-offered Edwards would be a nice way of adding to it. Oregon’s had some good luck at the lesser-known of California’s Mater Deis: It’s the same high school of former UO running back CJ Verdell.
8. Caleb Presley, Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.), CB
6-foot, 180 pounds, No. 81 overall, No. 8 cornerback
Oregon is already ahead of the 2023 curve in the defensive backfield with a commitment from four-star Cole Martin (Chandler, Ariz.), but Presley comes with the benefit of hurting the Huskies. It remains to be seen how cordial the latest iterations of the Oregon and Washington staffs will be with each other, but if you’re looking for a spark, Oregon luring yet another elite Washington player across the state’s southern border could certainly get things going.
9. Mikal Harrison-Pilot, Temple (Temple, Texas), Safety
6-foot, 190 pounds, No. 101, No. 10 athlete
Harrison-Pilot made an unofficial visit to Oregon in January and is one of many players from Texas the Ducks should get a foot in the door with thanks to new co-defensive coordinator Matt Powledge. Powledge was born in Texas, played at Sam Houston State and was hired away from Baylor to come work at Oregon.
“We want to go attack the players that we think fit us wherever they are. Sometimes it’s going to be Texas and sometimes it’ll be more in Texas than others,” Lanning said. “But we have great strong ties there on our staff, certainly just like we do on the West Coast, in the Pacific Northwest. It’ll definitely be a place that we always have a footprint and we’re going to attack.”
10. Matayo Uiagalelei, St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), Edge
6-foot-4, 255 pounds, No. 18 overall, No. 1 edge
It was three years ago when the Ducks pulled out all the stops in trying to woo DJ Uiagalelei at the 2019 spring game. The Ducks flew the 5-star quarterback in, introduced him to Marcus Mariota and Jeremiah Masoli, then hoped he’d stay on the West Coast.
He ultimately chose Clemson.
So here the Ducks are with another chance. Matayo, DJ’s younger brother, is a beast of a prospect in his own right, and it seems like Oregon left a decent impression after the family visited in late January.
From Dave Uiagalelei, a former bouncer who tips the scales at 380 pounds on his own:
— Tyson Alger
