Wednesday Nuggets:
QB Thoughts:
Nothing earth shattering; just some ‘freebie’ recruiting thoughts this morning. Quarterback recruiting has been complicated this cycle. Oregon was able to snare a late flip from San Diego prospect Braxton Burmeister. It would appear that the Ducks will have to gain another flip if they want to land a QB for this class – hint – they do.
It is also no secret that many current Oregon commits are working very hard to convince Cam Rising to flip to Oregon. Of all the 2018 targets to whom the duck staff are talking, he is the most likely. I know everyone wants to be excited about Justin Fields, but I just don’t see that one happening. I covered The Opening for a sister site and spoke with Fields frequently and Oregon was not a real option – even as he was enjoying the near perfect weather in July. I think he is very intrigued by the success of Justin Herbert and the Oregon offense, but there is no indication that he would come play in Oregon.
Underrated?
Spencer Webb moved into the Rivals 250 at the last update. He is now rated as the No. 11 tight end int eh nation – and I think he might be still somewhat undervalued. If Webb was playing for a premier high school, in a bigger league, he would likely be rated as a top five (or higher) tight end int he nation. I saw several of the top ten tight ends at The Opening and the only ones who looked better in person were Luke Ford and Jeremy Ruckert. Outside of those two, I thought Webb was equal to or better than the rest of the field. So take heart; despite the Ducks’ depth woes at TE this season behind Jacob Breeland, reinforcements are on their way; and they are very good reinforcements.
Commentary:
Something I noticed over the last ten months – it seems like there are a lot of places where some have a slightly warped sense of reality when it comes to recruiting.
I try to get honest takes on what is happening and pass that on to our subscribers. When i hear good things, I tell them. but when someone asks me about the chances with a prospect that I think are longshot chances, I also tell the truth.
In the recruiting class signed in February, I read as some sites literally had every top rated prospect picking their school (not Alabama, FWIW). It was fascinating to see some fans, who are very very nice and personable, lose their sense of reason when they convinced themselves that no one would ever want to go to any other school.
Now, I expect fans to do this; and I suppose we are all ‘fancentric’ websites that cover recruiting, but to see other insiders convince members that they were accurate in their assertions that “Player A” is definitely coming, to then fan the flames of ‘someone else paid him’ seemed disingenuous.
I don’t want to give away premium information here, but I will give an example using Oregon. There was a highly coveted athlete from Southern California that very briefly considered a last second trip to Oregon to check out the program. That same athlete also considered briefly a trip to a midwest school. While I told our subscribers that, even with a perfect trip, I had heard that he was not really a ‘flip’ candidate, the midwestern sites were convincing them that it was already a done deal – that he was going to flip from his Southern Cal commitment. Now, there was absolutely no chance of this happening, but it just struck me as odd.