2024 Oregon Target Picks up New Recruiting Prediction
Oregon's 2024 recruiting class is surging up the rankings once again, moving up to No. 11 nationally (according to 247Sports) after landing a commitment from Yelm (Wash.) linebacker Brayden Platt on Monday.
As we know there are twists and turns with recruiting, and one of Oregon's top recruiting targets in the 2024 class may now be trending elsewhere.
On Tuesday, 2024 Seattle (Wash.) O'Dea running back Jason Brown Jr. was predicted to commit to the Michigan State Spartans by Justin Hopkins of On3's ScoopDuck.com. He logged the prediction with 65% confidence.
Brown announced a top three of Oregon, Washington and Michigan State last month, but has yet to announce a decision date. The interest he has in the Spartans appears to be strong not only because he has Michigan State as a top school, but the only official visit he's taken thus far has been to East Lansing.
The Spartans have one running back committed already this cycle in three-star Tampa (Fla.) Carrollwood Day running back Anthony 'Scoota' Carrie, who pledged to Mel Tucker and company in June.
Carlos Locklyn and the Ducks have one running back commitment in the 2024 class from Da'Jaun Riggs out of Washington, D.C. St. John's, who announced his commitment to Oregon in July.
Torres' Take
While I did make a recent prediction on Brown to commit to Oregon, I have said on my podcast that there was a bit of a grey area. While I thought the Ducks were in a very strong position, I tried to communicate that if Brown were to go anywhere else I thought it would be Michigan State.
The Ducks love what they have in Riggs this cycle and I don't think there's much question that they want another back. However, with numbers getting tight at 23 verbal commitments, Carlos Locklyn and the coaching staff will likely need to decide if they want that running back to come from the high school ranks or the transfer portal.
Operating off of the assumption that both Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington declare for the 2024 NFL Draft, that would leave Jordan James as the most experienced back in the room heading into next season. This prediction of Brown to Michigan State makes me think Oregon may be favoring the latter of the two options in the transfer portal--getting someone that can play right away rather than developing another young talent.
In that scenario the Ducks will play the 2023 season and then weigh their options in the transfer portal, which will almost surely feature a lot of high-profile, productive running backs who can add experience to the backfield in Eugene.