Oregon in a Three Team Race for In-State OL Devin Brooks
A'lique Terry has attacked the recruiting trail with a lot of energy since getting hired by Dan Lanning to coach the Oregon offensive line last month.
One player he's been focused on is 2024 Clackamas (Ore.) offensive tackle Devin Brooks, who spoke with Ducks Digest about the latest in his recruitment.
The 6-foot-4, 280-pound tackle took three trips in January to Oregon, Washington and USC.
"Me and Washington and USC, we all have a pretty good connection with them," Brooks said. "I just try to keep in touch with them and just keeping in touch with all the other coaches and stuff from Oregon."
As we emerge from the recruiting dead period Brooks sees himself returning to each school in the spring to get a feel for what things are like during practice.
"I'm trying to get down to my top three colleges. Get down for maybe a spring game or spring practice just to get the feel and vibe."
The in-state standout has moved along in his recruitment and has locked in two official visits for later this year.
"I have my officials for Washington and USC set up. I'm going to USC on the 16th to the 18th (June) and then I'm going to Washington the 23rd to the 25th (June)."
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Brooks doesn't have his official to Oregon finalized but it's in the works.
"I'm working on planning my Oregon schedule right now, just trying to make my schedule together so it aligns with school so I'm able to go to my team camp and everything," he said. "I'll probably end up taking my Oregon official probably early June or late May."
The Oregon prep isn't placing any limits on his recruitment, but was straightforward about where Oregon, USC and Washington stand.
"Yeah I'm just trying to focus on these top three," said Brooks. "If there are schools that are interested in me that come along the way I'm not going to shut everything down but just try to focus on these schools."
Brooks has gotten acquainted with multiple coaches at Oregon, which could bode well for the Ducks here after they lost offensive line coach Adrian Klemm to the NFL.
"I've been keeping in touch with Coach (A'lique) Terry since he came over. He contacted me, we exchanged contacts and we've talked a couple times.
"He talked to my Mom, but I'm mostly in contact with him and Coach (Zach) Tinker and Coach (Joe) Lorig also text me a lot because it's their area to recruit and also Coach (Dan) Lanning. Me and him have a pretty good connection and also my Mom loves him too. Me and him talk a lot."
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Terry is one of the youngest position coaches in college football but the offensive lineman doesn't view that as a negative.
"He's definitely a young coach. I'm pretty sure he's the youngest offensive line position coach. So that's pretty big," Brooks noted. "Coach background, obviously he's been here at Oregon before so he's not too new to everything. He's definitely a well-experienced coach and I have a lot of trust in him."
With his official visit schedule becoming clearer so is his timeframe for a decision.
"I want to commit end of June, early July. It's really important to me to take my officials before I officially commit, so probably around that time range."
As he continues to mull over his recruitment the culture in Eugene could be creating some separation for the Ducks.
"Just how real they are honestly," Brooks said of what stands out most about Oregon. "They have a thing in their program called the get real where they really try to make the effort to get real with the program and the players and the people that's involved with the program and make sure that everyone's buying into it. That's pretty important to me what Oregon's doing and just the coaching staff and the culture of it is just what I'm the most interested in."
Brooks is looking for a strong overall fit at his school of choice.
"Just somewhere that's gonna be the best fit for me. When I go to college I want to be somewhere that I'm gonna be there for my college career, I'm gonna be there for four years. So somewhere that I can call home and settle down with and just start grinding."
READ MORE: An early look at Oregon's offensive recruiting needs in 2024
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