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Oregon surges in national rankings after latest commitment

Jarrid Denneyby:Jarrid Denney•08/07/23•

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(Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images)

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks scored another major victory on the recruiting trail Monday evening when they flipped blue-chip cornerback Dakoda Fields.

A 4-star recruit in the 2024 class who is the No. 95 player in the nation and the No. 13 cornerback, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, Fields flipped from USC to Oregon after committing to the Trojans on June 5.

Prior to Fields’ commitment, Oregon sat at No. 15 in the On3 2024 team rankings with a score of 90.637.

Following Monday’s news, the Ducks have surged to No. 11 with a score of 90.974. They leapfrogged No. 12 Texas A&M (90.914), No. 13 Notre Dame (90.885), No. 14 Auburn (90.701), and No. 15 USC (90.513).

Oregon’s 2024 class currently features 21 verbal commits — 13 who are On3 Industry Ranking 4-stars, and eight who are 3-stars.

Fields is the highest-rated commit in Oregon’s class and is the Ducks’ lone top-100 commit. They also hold commitments from 4-star defensive backs Ify Obidegwu and Aaron Flowers.

While speaking with reporters on Saturday, Lanning was asked how UO’s move to the Big Ten might affect the Ducks on the recruiting front.

“More than anything, clear direction,” Lanning said. “We have a really clear direction right now. It’s not the what-ifs. It’s not the where-are. It’s really clear where we’re going to be in the future and how we’re set up for long term. … Everybody is always going to recruit hard against us. Ultimately, we’re not really concerned about everybody else. We have a great option to sell here. It’s only stronger now because of what happened yesterday.”

As of Monday evening, Oregon’s recruiting class is the best in the Pac-12, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. USC (No. 15) and Stanford (No. 23) are the only other programs from the conference currently ranked inside the top-25.

Of course, next season the Ducks will be competing with a host of Big Ten powers on the recruiting trail.

Currently, Ohio State (No. 2), Michigan (No. 6), Penn State (No. 8), Nebraska (No. 21), and Wisconsin (No. 23) all boast top-25 classes.

“I just think that when you come here, you’re looking for an opportunity to compete against the best,” Lanning said on Saturday. “I think there’s no secret that there’s really great competition and really great teams in that league. I think it’s a league that means more than just football. Obviously, academically it brings a certain prestige. The fact that it hits every single part of the United States is big for us because we are a team that is a national brand. We should be seen across the nation.”

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