Oregon Gives Offer to Austin Hooper

Oregon continues to try and upgrade their defensive depth and reach out to a three-star defensive end from California. The Ducks have officially given an offer to Austin Hooper.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound prospect is a long defensive end that has received a three-star rating from 247sports and Scout. He’s much faster than one might expect, being hard to defend and can quickly get into the backfield to disrupt play. His height gives him great vision to find the ball.

Hooper now has 10 offers, and he favors Oregon along with Washington and California, according to 247sports. Arizona State, Army, Boise State, Houston, Northwestern, Oregon State, and Washington State have also given him an offer.

There’s a great highlight video on YouTube showing Hooper in action. According to the video, his junior season at De La Salle had an impressive 46 tackles (20 of them for loss) and 11.5 sacks. Having a solid season at a premier school like this gives him a tremendous advantage when playing at the college level.

Hooper’s strengths include coming off fast from the line. When nobody has an assignment to block him, he will get immediately break through into the backfield and disrupt play. He is also very aware of where the ball is when being blocked. Especially during running plays, he will break off the tackle and try to stop or slow down the carrier. There’s a specific highlight at the 3:34 mark where he goes after the fake handoff but then regains his steps and takes down the ball carrier.

It will be interesting to see how he transitions to the college level and bigger offensive linemen block him, trying to stop his athleticism and speed.

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