Daylen Austin Talks Oregon Visit, Latest in Recruitment
Oregon's 2023 class is already pretty loaded in the secondary. However, the Ducks still have their eyes on a number of players they'd like to add in the defensive backfield.
Among those targets is Daylen Austin, a four-star cornerback out of Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School. Austin is committed to LSU, but took an unofficial visit to Eugene for the Stanford game.
"I just went up there to see one of my old coaches, talk to Lanning a bit, see the campus," he told Ducks Digest of the reasoning behind the trip.
The trip was his first chance to see a home game in Eugene and it didn't disappoint--the fans made sure to show him love.
"It was their first week of school, so Autzen was packed out and they had a lot of great energy," Austin said. "The student section was chanting my name. It was cool vibes up there it was fun."
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During his trip he was able to spend time with multiple coaches and strengthen those relationships, including one that hails from his home of Southern California.
"I really mess with Coach Meat (Demetrice Martin) and Coach Tosh Lupoi the defensive coordinator. He has a lot of good energy," he said. "I went in all of their offices and had a one-on-one meeting with them."
Despite just recently taking over the program, Austin has a relationship with head coach Lanning that dates back to his days in the SEC.
"Me and Coach Lanning have a great relationship since he recruited me at Georgia," Austin noted. "He's the one who offered me when he was coaching at Georgia. He's always been real. He gonna keep it real with you all the time, so it's never any fake stuff. It felt like family up there."
The Ducks are in contact with the playmaking defensive back multiple times a week and one aspect of the program stands out above the rest.
"I'm still with LSU, but if I was committed to Oregon I'd be most excited about the defensive scheme because you got a defensive head coach and then coach Tosh Lupoi," he said. "They're both smart defensive coaches."
Oregon isn't the only school pushing for the Tigers commit.
"The schools that are trying to get me the most probably USC, Michigan State, Oregon, Maryland and Miami."
Next up for Austin is a trip out to Baton Rouge for his LSU official visit on October 22.
"I feel like they've played good since that first game they had versus Florida State," he said of what he's seen from LSU this season. "They've been playing good, the DB's been playing good, flying around. They've been making big hits."
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Outside of that trip and his trip to Michigan State in June he has three official visits remaining, with Oregon in a prime spot to earn one of them.
"I don't have any other set dates for officials, but I know we gotta get those figured out soon."
What is he looking for on his future trips?
"Just going up seeing the facilities again. Listening to what the coaches have to say. That's pretty much it."
While he's still committed to LSU, he is squarely focused on two factors at his next stop.
"Development is number one but I also gotta look at and talk to players and see how campus life is," Austin said. "I gotta be going to school there it's not just gonna be a visit. I gotta see if I'll be able to go there as a regular student, not just a football player."
Austin plans to sign his national letter of intent in February and enroll in the summer at his school of choice.
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