Oregon Recruiting Target Drew Williams Announces Commitment to Former Ducks Coach

The Oregon Ducks have received their fair share of big news recently. Unfortunately for coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks, they also received significant and unfortunate news in the recruiting world, as they lost a top target at the linebacker position.

Linebacker Recruit Drew Williams Commits to the Kentucky Wildcats

The Oregon Ducks missed out on three-star linebacker recruit Drew Williams from the class of 2027, who announced his commitment on June 7, per Rivals' Hayes Fawcett. Williams opted to instead commit to the Kentucky Wildcats, who are led by former Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator and new head football coach Will Stein. Williams is the No. 21 commit in the 2027 class for the Wildcats, while he would have been the No. 15 commit for the Oregon Ducks in the class of 2027.

Oregon Ducks dan lanning eugene kentucky wildcats will stein drew williams brandon lockley jalaythan mayfield sam ngata. — Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein speaks during a media day as the Oregon Ducks arrive on Jan. 7, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia ahead of the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Williams is rated as the nation's No. 41 linebacker and the state of Georgia's No. 51 prospect, according to 247Sports. The Sequoyah linebacker recruit recently visited the Ducks on May 29. This was the first official visit for the linebacker prospect, as only three were scheduled, per 247Sports. He visited the Wildcats before he announced his commitment, as he visited the Wildcats on June 5.

This commitment also came before he visited his third and final official visit, which is a scheduled trip to Gainesville, Florida. He's set to visit with the Florida Gators on June 19, according to 247Sports, unless he opts to no longer visit the Gators now that he is committed.

His commitment to Stein and the Wildcats is bad news for the Oregon Ducks, as the Ducks continue to search for their next commit. Luckily for the Ducks, they already have three commits at the linebacker position, as the Ducks landed the commitment of four-star linebacker recruit Toa Satele just days before Williams announced his decision to go to Lexington's finest. Satele was the third commitment the Ducks landed at the linebacker position.

Satele joined three-star linebacker recruit Brandon Lockley and Oregon Ducks three-star legacy linebacker recruit Sam Ngata from the class of 2027. Among all of these recruits, Williams would have been the third-highest-ranked prospect at the position.

What's Next for Oregon Recruiting

As for what's next for the Ducks, they will likely begin to look at other prospects at the linebacker position to round out their class, but also look at the remaining prospects who are uncommitted on their board. The Ducks have plenty of highly ranked recruits set to visit the program, including one top linebacker, who has already been predicted to land with the Ducks prior to his visit with the program.

That player is a four-star athlete, but a primary linebacker recruit, Brayton Feister from the state of Ohio and the class of 2027. He is viewed as a top remaining target at the position along with four-star linebacker recruit Jalaythan Mayfield. The Ducks will look to make a big splash at the position, as adding just one of the two prospects at the position would help them do just that.

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