Class Impact: Oregon Football Invades Washington Again to Land Caleb Presley
In this story:
Caleb Presley became Oregon's highest rated recruit in their 2023 class on Tuesday and we're here to break down every angle of his commitment and what it means for the Ducks.
Evaluation (Via SI All-American's Bryan Driskell)
Presley is one of the more physical cornerbacks on the West Coast. He has good size at 6-0 and 180 pounds, but he plays bigger than that both in coverage and as a tackler. Presley plays with a tenacious style of play, and he’s clearly a confident football player.
Head coach Dan Lanning implemented aggressive coverage techniques at Georgia in both their man and zone concepts. He liked long, athletic corners that could play up near the line and be physical. That’s true when playing zone where they wanted to jam and re-route or when they were playing press man. Presley fits that mold quite well due to his play strength and experience playing near the line of scrimmage.
Presley is a quality athlete that is more instinctive and physical than he is explosive, but he makes a ton of plays due to his length, high football IQ and aggressiveness. He’ll need to be efficient with his technique in order to maintain transition quickness (when running vertically with the WR), but his physicality helps him overcome any lack of elite athleticism.
He gets his hands on a lot of footballs and he can play inside or outside at the next level. Presley also has enough speed and athleticism to combine with his length and play strength to be an effective boundary corner.
Impact on the recruiting trail
Presley was a must get for Dan Lanning and the Ducks.
First off, he was already very high on Oregon when this new staff came in, which gave them a bit of a head start--not something they can say for many of their top targets in 2023. Demetrice has been known as one of the best recruiters out west and he showed that again. Secondly, Presley was an elite player that was more or less in their backyard in Seattle, seeing that Oregon doesn't produce top-level talent on a consistent basis. Geography was in their favor for a top prospect, also something that's getting harder to come by.
Furthermore, cornerback is a major position of need in 2023 after losing three cornerbacks (Wright, James, Davies) in just one offseason, leaving Oregon with an abundance of youth at the position. While that youth is talented, you always want to give yourself more options and raise the level of competition.
Presley's commitment is also significant because it strengthens the pipeline to Washington, and perhaps more specifically FSP (Ford Sports Performance), a high-level sports performance training facility and more recently one of the best 7-on-7 squads in the country. Troy Franklin, Keith Brown, Ashton Cozart--the list goes on and we all know how important relationships are in recruiting.
The timing of this latest addition is also great for the Ducks, with targets like Micah Bañuelos (July 8) and Miles McVay (August 11) scheduled to commit this summer. Presley is another elite recruit in this class and he'll likely attract more talent behind him, perhaps even in the state of Washington.
Oregon's secondary could be wrapped up in the 2023 recruiting class with fellow cornerbacks Cole Martin and Collin Gill in the fold, but the Ducks are still in the running for Gardena Serra (Calif.) cornerback Rodrick Pleasant, who's elite track speed would be hard to turn away.
Join the Community
Follow Max on Twitter: @mtorressports
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter to have the latest Oregon Ducks news sent directly to your inbox