Oregon Enters the Mix With New 5-Star Recruit in 2024 Class
We're just about three months away from the early signing period in December and while the Oregon Ducks boast the nation's No. 12 recruiting class, the coaching staff is still working relentlessly to land some of the nation's top players--committed or uncommitted.
We've seen recent developments on the recruiting trail with top Oregon targets like Aydin Breland and Brandon Baker, but it looks like we have a new name to track this week.
Oregon has entered the mix for five-star (0.9961 per 247Sports Composite) Temple (Tex.) Lake Belton wide receiver Micah Hudson, according to Sam Spiegelman of On3 Sports. Hudson is the No. 2-ranked wide receiver in the 2024 class.
"A&M has really dialed up the heat on Micah Hudson, but you have to look at Oregon as a team making the strongest push to try to get him out of state right now. They are working hard to get Micah Hudson out to Oregon for a visit," Speigelman said on a recent episode of "The Inside Scoop", On3's college football recruiting show.
The Ducks have three wide receiver commits in the 2024 class. Jordan Anderson, Dillon Gresham and Jack Ressler have all been committed for a while now, but Junior Adams isn't getting complacent with that haul.
After missing out on St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers four-star Jeremiah McClellan, who committed to Ohio State, the Ducks are going back to familiar territory in the Lone Star State. While this is a positive development for the Ducks on the recruiting trail, it sounds like it's far from a done deal that they'll even get him on campus for a visit.
"He has not been there yet and we know his history. They play on Friday nights at Lake Belton and it's been very hard to get him out of state," Spiegelman said. "He no-showed at G-Day in Georgia, he's not attending a lot of schools like LSU and Tennessee and Ohio State have worked very hard to get him out of state."
Fortunately for the Ducks, they do have ample ties to the state of Texas, which only got stronger this offseason when Dan Lanning hired offensive coordinator Will Stein from UTSA, who spent a lot of his career coaching in the Austin area, just about 70 miles from Hudson's hometown of Temple.
"There is a lot of interest, I have heard from sources between Micah Hudson and Oregon. A visit is in the works and they're hoping to get that in season. If there's a team right now that's going to push Texas Tech, you have to look at the Ducks and the work that they're doing behind the scenes with one of the top uncommitted pass catchers in the country out of the state of Texas."
Dan Lanning and Oregon have plenty of big-time home games that should help them get the five-star pass catcher on campus including their Pac-12 opener against Deion Sanders and Colorado, as well as a showdown with Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans before the two schools head to the Big Ten.
You can watch the full video below, with the Hudson development starting around the 7:00 mark.
Torres' Take
This is a great development for Oregon on the recruiting trail. Many fans seem to have a pessimistic tone when players like Brandon Baker appear to be trending away from the Ducks, but they just landed an elite linebacker in Brayden Platt, so let's all take a deep breath here alright?
I've done a big of digging with a source in Texas and I can confirm what we all saw on the surface: Texas Tech led for Hudson for what feels like forever. If there ever a player that could be silently committed to a program, that certainly looked like the case with the Red Raiders.
However, Oregon did themselves a big favor by going into Lubbock and beating Texas Tech in their home-opener last weekend. That's not the reason for this development, but boy it certainly doesn't hurt.
The Ducks are as well-connected a team as you'll find out West with the state of Texas, and getting Hudson to fly out for a game would obviously be a huge accomplishment in itself.
That said, it's not like anyone's going to give the Ducks a cookie for getting a visit. The goal is always to sign that player. So in a nutshell, make sure you keep an eye on Hudson, because he's certainly a DUDE in this 2024 class.