Oregon trending to flip Washington 4-star TE commit Vander Ploog

For the second time this month, Fullerton (Calif.) Troy four-star tight end Vander Ploog made his way to Eugene and visited Oregon over the weekend.

The Washington commit was on his official visit this time around and saw the Ducks roll over Illinois and improve to 8-0 on the season. Now, Ploog is trending to flip to Oregon, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM).

On3 VP of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong, as well as Oregon insiders Max Torres and Justin Hopkins, all logged picks in favor of the Ducks flipping the Golden State standout from the Huskies over the weekend. The RPM now favors Oregon at 67.1 percent compared to Washington, which is now at 30.1 percent.

“You make two visits in under a month to basically a rival to the school you’re committed to, I think that speaks volumes,” Hopkins said on ‘The Inside Scoop’. Oregon did a tremendous job on Saturday using Kenyon Sadiq in the offense, the tight end filling in for the injured Terrance Ferguson. If you’re Vander Ploog, or you’re any tight end for that matter, you’re obviously looking at that and saying ‘I’d like catching the rock there in that offense.’ I know that’s one of the things that really stuck out to them was the use of the tight end in Oregon’s offense.”

Ducks ‘in heavy contact’ with Ploog

While Ploog’s offer from Oregon didn’t come until August, he had previously camped in Eugene back in the spring and has a relationship with Dan Lanning and the Ducks’ staff. Oregon has been pushing hard to add a tight end to its 2025 class this fall, with the likes of five-star Kansas State commit Linkon Cure and four-star Michigan commit Andrew Olesh also being top targets, but it’s Ploog that’s now trending to join the fold.

“They have been in heavy contact over the last few weeks and it was good to see the staff in person again this week,” Ploog told On3’s Chad Simmons after the OV. “Their message is a hard push and they feel that I am a fit for their offense.”

The 6-foot-6, 215-pounder is the No. 218 overall prospect and No. 12 TE in the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also the No. 21 player in California.

On3 ranks Ploog higher than other recruiting services. He checks in as the No. 153 recruit, No. 8 TE and No. 10 player in California in the 2025 On300.

Oregon’s 2025 recruiting class ranks No. 7 in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Ten, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. It features three five-stars and an additional four top-100 prospects, as of Oct. 28.