Per our Rivals Oregon staff:
If you had asked me Friday, I would have listed Jordon Davison maybe fourth on the list. But then the top contender – Ohio State – took its second running back commitment over the weekend adding three-star running back Isiah West. A former Kentucky commit, West began looking around and decommitted from the Wildcats last month. I know that Ohio State folks still feel like Davison would come to a class with two other backs already committed, but that one will be a more difficult pull. Yes, Davison probably feels he could beat out both of the committed players, but a lot more goes into this than whether he would win the battle and it is not likely a coincidence that West committed while Davison was on his visit to Oregon and a week before Davison was set to make an official visit to Columbus.
Davison is a strong, versatile running back known for his ability to gain tough yards inside and make plays outside due to his speed and burst. He has excellent vision, makes decisive cuts, and is hard to bring down in one-on-one situations due to his contact balance. Davison is also a skilled receiver, capable of making plays from the backfield and the slot. Despite a lower body injury in his junior year, he has significant potential and projects as a high-level Power 4 prospect with NFL potential. He's an every-down back who excels in blocking and can handle various situations on the field.
The staff have done a fantastic job getting Davison back in the fold as a likely stop and it would not surprise me at all to start seeing some predictions roll in for Davison to Oregon in the near future.
Nothing has changed my opinion from Friday that Noah Mikhail is a strong Oregon lean at this point and nothing that happened this weekend did anything but strengthen that view. The staff have targeted him from early in the process and there is a reason that they wanted to wait for Mikhail to visit before accepting a commit from Mason Posa.
There is one last hurdle to clear as Mikhail is scheduled to visit Texas A&M next weekend. Mike Elko is another defensive minded head coach and that is going to appeal to Mikhail. Watch closely to see if that visit gets canceled. If it does, then I think we know what is coming shortly thereafter.
Even if he does visit A&M next weekend I think that Oregon has done everything in their power with Mikhail and have made up tremendous ground from early in the process when USC seemed like the early favorite. At the end of all of this, I do think Mikhail is going to pick Oregon.
As for Josiah Sharma, I will call this a tie for second place here as I think Sharma really loved everything about his visit. And the plan set out for him was something that impressed him. This is a battle between Oregon and Alabama at the moment. Alabama is only really in this because their head coach was at the University of Washington last year. I feel strongly that he stays on the West Coast and that is a good thing for Oregon.
He is the best pure defensive tackle on the west coast, and I think this is one of those battles that Dan Lanning wants to win and feels like he considers the entire west coast to be his backyard for recruiting. It would surprise me a little bit if Oregon lost this recruiting battle.
If you had asked me Friday, I would have listed Jordon Davison maybe fourth on the list. But then the top contender – Ohio State – took its second running back commitment over the weekend adding three-star running back Isiah West. A former Kentucky commit, West began looking around and decommitted from the Wildcats last month. I know that Ohio State folks still feel like Davison would come to a class with two other backs already committed, but that one will be a more difficult pull. Yes, Davison probably feels he could beat out both of the committed players, but a lot more goes into this than whether he would win the battle and it is not likely a coincidence that West committed while Davison was on his visit to Oregon and a week before Davison was set to make an official visit to Columbus.
Davison is a strong, versatile running back known for his ability to gain tough yards inside and make plays outside due to his speed and burst. He has excellent vision, makes decisive cuts, and is hard to bring down in one-on-one situations due to his contact balance. Davison is also a skilled receiver, capable of making plays from the backfield and the slot. Despite a lower body injury in his junior year, he has significant potential and projects as a high-level Power 4 prospect with NFL potential. He's an every-down back who excels in blocking and can handle various situations on the field.
The staff have done a fantastic job getting Davison back in the fold as a likely stop and it would not surprise me at all to start seeing some predictions roll in for Davison to Oregon in the near future.
Nothing has changed my opinion from Friday that Noah Mikhail is a strong Oregon lean at this point and nothing that happened this weekend did anything but strengthen that view. The staff have targeted him from early in the process and there is a reason that they wanted to wait for Mikhail to visit before accepting a commit from Mason Posa.
There is one last hurdle to clear as Mikhail is scheduled to visit Texas A&M next weekend. Mike Elko is another defensive minded head coach and that is going to appeal to Mikhail. Watch closely to see if that visit gets canceled. If it does, then I think we know what is coming shortly thereafter.
Even if he does visit A&M next weekend I think that Oregon has done everything in their power with Mikhail and have made up tremendous ground from early in the process when USC seemed like the early favorite. At the end of all of this, I do think Mikhail is going to pick Oregon.
As for Josiah Sharma, I will call this a tie for second place here as I think Sharma really loved everything about his visit. And the plan set out for him was something that impressed him. This is a battle between Oregon and Alabama at the moment. Alabama is only really in this because their head coach was at the University of Washington last year. I feel strongly that he stays on the West Coast and that is a good thing for Oregon.
He is the best pure defensive tackle on the west coast, and I think this is one of those battles that Dan Lanning wants to win and feels like he considers the entire west coast to be his backyard for recruiting. It would surprise me a little bit if Oregon lost this recruiting battle.
