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Inside The Huskies

Elite SoCal Cornerback Chooses Oregon Over UW, Others

Davon Benjamin made his decision known late Saturday afternoon.
Dan Raley|
Davon Benjamin picked Oregon over Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and the UW.
Davon Benjamin picked Oregon over Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and the UW. | Oregon

Davon Benjamin, a 4-star California cornerback and the last high-profile 2026 recruit with the University of Washington among his final choices, on Saturday selected Oregon over Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and the Huskies.

Early on, the 6-foot, 170-pound Benjamin from Oaks Christian School was such a priority for the UW, Jedd Fisch and a large contingent of his defensive staff visited the corner at his school in Westlake Village in the Los Angeles area.

Fisch was accompanied by defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, secondary coach John Richardson and safeties coach Taylor Mays that day.

However, it became obvious during the official visit period in May and June that Benjamin's interests were leaning elsewhere, with the Ducks and Michigan reportedly believed to be the last two in the running for him.

The UW seemed to concede that fact by moving on and securing a commitment in recent weeks from Rahsjon Duncan, a defensive back and wide receiver from Oakland's McClymonds High School -- making him the sixth such pledge in this recruiting class who could turn up in the Husky secondary.

A two-way player with a lot of speed, Benjamin comes off a junior season in which he intercepted 6 passes for Oaks Christian and returned three of them for touchdowns for a 9-4 team. 

He has 12 career interceptions with four defensive scores, counting a fumble return for six points as a sophomore. 

Benjamin made his announcement late Saturday afternoon on Rivals' YouTube channel, giving Oregon 17 commitments during this recruiting period.

The Huskies have 21 players committed after landing Colorado's No. 1 player in defensive lineman TI Umu-Cais last weekend.

The 6-foot-3, 307-pound Umu-Cais chose Washington as his college football destination over home state Colorado, North Carolina, Oklahoma and UCLA, making his decision known over the 247Sports YouTube channel. 

Both Oregon and Washington have secured top 20 classes this summer, according to the recruiting websites, which should bode well for future rivalry battles on the football field.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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