Oregon’s recruiting operation has clearly entered the big-spender tier, and the numbers around the Ducks’ 2027 class help explain why.
According to anonymous general managers speaking to On3, the price tag for elite high school talent has climbed fast in the NIL era. One SEC general manager put it bluntly: “It feels like $350,000 was the starting price for a low four-star this year,” said an SEC general manager.
“We’ve reached the period where everyone has an agent. There are no layups anymore in high school recruiting.
Nothing is even reasonably priced.”
Those same general managers named Oregon, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Miami, and Notre Dame as some of the biggest spenders in the sport. That lines up with Rivals’ most updated 2027 recruiting class rankings, which feature Texas A&M at No.
1, Notre Dame at No. 2, Miami at No.
3, Oregon at No. 4, and Oklahoma at No. 5.
The Ducks’ class is already loaded. Oregon sits at No. 4 nationally with 23 commitments, and 15 of those pledges are rated either four or five stars. The two newest additions are four-star athlete Tae Walden Jr. and four-star cornerback Hayden Stepp.
Given the reported baseline for lower four-stars, and the fact that Walden and Stepp are both described as being on the higher end of the four-star scale, it’s easy to see how the Ducks could have spent around $1 million combined on those two alone.
That kind of investment fits the program Oregon has become under Dan Lanning. The Ducks are still chasing their first national championship, and they’ve kept knocking on the door in each of his first four seasons in Eugene.
In 2022, Oregon finished 9-3. A year later, the Ducks went 11-1 in the regular season and were right on the edge of the College Football Playoff before falling to the Washington Huskies in the Pac-12 Championship Game. A win would have nearly locked up a place in the four-team field.
Then came 2024, when Oregon rolled through a 12-0 regular season and followed it with a Big Ten championship. The run ended in the Rose Bowl with a loss to Ohio State. In 2025, the Ducks returned to the playoff after another 11-1 regular season, but their semifinal run ended against the Indiana Hoosiers.
So the question now is whether 2026 finally brings a breakthrough. On the recruiting front, Oregon is doing everything like a team that expects to stay in the hunt. The Ducks open the season on Sept. 5 against Boise State.
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Texas A&M Has One Last Five Star Shot At History
Texas A&Ms 2027 recruiting run already looks like one of the strongest in the country, and the Aggies are still hunting for a finish that would put the class in rare air. They sit at No. 1 nationally and are on pace to sign six five-star prospects, a total that would match the biggest haul since Alabamas 2023 class.
The last swing is still out there, and the Aggies enter it as the clear favorite. ON3 gives Texas A&M an 86.3 percent chance to land Dobson, and if that final piece falls into place, the class would reach seven five-stars and tie Alabamas standard from 2023. After missing on Texas native John Meredith III to Texas in June, this is the one chance left to turn an already elite class into something historic. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Fans Arent Ready For This Recruiting Gut Punch
Texas A&Ms 2027 recruiting board has already taken a few hits, with top prospects Albert Simien and John Meredith choosing other paths and leaving the Aggies to keep chasing answers in a fast-moving cycle. The latest concern centers on five-star cornerback Joshua Dobson, who had long been viewed as one of the programs priority targets and a potential headliner in the class.
Now, the momentum around Dobson has shifted enough to make this one sting a little more for A&M fans, with recruiting insiders moving their forecasts away from the Aggies and toward a different SEC contender. Dobson is set to announce his decision at 5 PM CT, and the timing only adds to the tension around a recruitment that has quietly become one of the more telling battles in Texas A&Ms 2027 push. [Read more 🡒]
Wade Taylor IV Just Took A Huge Step Toward The NBA
Wade Taylor IV keeps inching closer to an NBA opportunity, and it comes after a professional first season that already gave Texas A&M fans a glimpse of how his game can translate. The Aggies all-time leading scorer went undrafted, then began his pro career with the G-Leagues Mexico City Capitanes, where he settled into a new role and kept building a case that his shot-making and pace can still carry up to the next level.
Now Taylor is set for summer league action in early July, another chance to show he belongs in an NBA camp conversation rather than just a G-League one. He had previously earned a summer league invitation from the Milwaukee Bucks before turning pro, and this latest step gives him another opening to prove that his college legacy in College Station can still be followed by a real shot at sticking on the leagues radar. [Read more 🡒]