The Cristobal Effect
Mario Cristobal & his staff have been recruiting hard since they got to Oregon in 2017. They’ve been able to secure Top 10 classes in 2019, with the potential to have one in 2020 as well. Obviously, they can’t do this by just recruiting in-state talent like Florida and California schools can. We are going to dive into the states they’re recruiting and the biggest prospects they’re after in those states.
California
California has been a state Oregon has tried to invade for decades now. They’ve had decent success pulling the likes of De’Anthony Thomas from there. Now, Oregon and Arizona State seem to have beaten USC out of their own state. Oregon has gotten the top player in California for the last two years with Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe. They’d love to make that a three-peat and grab SDE Korey Foreman (#1 Player Nationally).
Florida
Every team in college football has been trying to recruit the state of Florida. Especially since those teams have fallen off in recent years. The University of Florida isn’t far removed from a 4-win season and Florida State barely made a bowl game this year. Not to mention Miami has basically only had one solid season (per their standards) since 2001. Oregon is after another Defensive End, this time in Florida with 5-star Bryce Langston. If the Ducks can establish a pipeline out East, it would show the recruiting prowess of this Oregon staff, and prove they’re not just feeding on the downfall of USC.
Utah
No, that’s not a typo. Utah has two very prominent programs who have been good in recent years, with Utah reaching the Pac-12 Championship this past season. And yet, Oregon has nabbed all of the best players out of Utah lately. For the Ducks to be able to swoop in and nab recruits despite the successes of the Utah schools is a testament to Coach Cristobal and his staff. The Sewell family is an obvious one, but Oregon is also the favorite for two of the Top 5 players in the state for 2021. Their main focus is Kingsley Suamataia, an elite 4-star OT from the same school as the aforementioned Sewell family.
Projection
Mario Cristobal and has staff have been working hard to prove you can recruit to Oregon and they have been very successful landing the best prospect in a number of states over the past two years. They have landed the #1 player in a state 7 times since Cristobal took the helm as head coach. If they can successfully establish the pipeline in Florida and keep recruiting well nationally, expect Oregon to be the West Coast Clemson.
