Oregon has turned recruiting into a national operation, and Dan Lanning’s program is showing just how far that reach now extends.
The Ducks are sitting on 24 commitments in the 2027 class as of early July, good for the No. 2 class in the country. Those pledges are spread across 17 states, a sign that Oregon is no longer just pulling elite talent from the West Coast. The Ducks are casting a much wider net now, and it’s working.
That footprint has grown quickly. In the class that followed Oregon’s Big Ten title in 2024, the Ducks landed 18 commits from 11 states. The freshman group arriving in Eugene this offseason came from 14 states, with 23 recruits making up that class.
Lanning and his staff have made a habit of winning on the road, and that matters in recruiting as much as anything else. Over the last three years, Oregon has won games in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Illinois and New Jersey. The Ducks have also landed commitments in each of those states in the 2027 cycle, a clear sign that the brand-building has traveled well beyond Eugene.
Texas has been a major target, and Oregon has been open about building a pipeline there. Lanning’s connections have also helped the Ducks make inroads in the Midwest and the South, while the Northeast has become part of the map too.
NIL is another major piece of the puzzle. Oregon has stayed aggressive in both high school recruiting and the transfer portal, and the Ducks have been able to spend at a level that keeps them in the thick of the national race for top talent. In today’s game, that matters.
On3’s Pete Nakos spoke with several anonymous general managers around the country, and Oregon, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Miami were identified as the top spenders. That lines up with the recruiting boards, where that group owns the top four spots, with Texas Tech inside the top 10.
“It feels like $350,000 was the starting price for a low four-star this year,” an SEC general manager told On3. “We’ve reached the period where everyone has an agent.
There are no layups anymore in high school recruiting. Nothing is even reasonably priced.”
The Ducks are building one of the strongest classes in program history and could end up with the top-ranked class in the country by the time signing day arrives in December. And with games on the schedule this season in Oklahoma and Ohio, plus trips back to Michigan, Illinois and California, Oregon’s national reach is only set to grow.
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