Oregon Ducks Football Recruiting: Malik McDowell and J.D. Hinnant visits
Two Oregon Ducks football targets are taking visits this weekend to top programs in the Big Ten, with one of the visits being official and the other unofficial. 2014 strong-side DE Malik McDowell will be unofficially visiting Michigan State today, and he has unofficially visited the Spartans twice in his recruitment, in addition to camping there once.
Meanwhile, 2013 Oregon target J.D. Hinnant is in Lincoln, Nebraska on an official visit to one of his top schools. Hinnant rescheduled his official to Oregon, which will be taken in mid-November.
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Hinnant is a three-star tackle from Fountain Valley High and is one of the top 75 tackles in the country. Oregon has already shored up three commitments on the offensive line and could get a fourth from Thomas Oser, but four-star OT Evan Voeller is their only commit at tackle.
The California Golden Bears received an unofficial visit from Hinnant earlier this month, and Duke is also a team he is looking at in his recruitment. His visit at Nebraska will be one to watch, as Barney Cotton is looking to secure the Huskers second tackle commit.
McDowell is still early in the process, but he has already received offers from the Florida Gators (yesterday), Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Oregon, and Stanford in his recruitment. Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, and Washington are four major programs with interest as well.
The 6’7″, 285 pound Detroit native is a high-end four-star prospect and 247Sports 24th-ranked recruit in the 2014 class. McDowell recorded nearly 70 tackles and over ten sacks for Loyola last season and is clearly the best available prospect in the state of Michigan.
Deon Drake and Drake Harris have already committed to MSU, so the Spartans will look to make a strong impression on another top in-state recruit, Oregon has already targeted McDowell, who is one of the most highly sought after defensive ends in the country.
Oregon’s addition of Doug Brenner has affected Hinnant’s recruitment, and a commitment from Oser, who had a great official visit to Oregon last week, will mean that the Ducks will have one tackle commit. Oser is about even with Hinnant in terms of skill, but he is more versatile on the interior- this cancels out the fact that they have more commits on the inside than at tackle. The Ducks seem in a better position to land him, so Hinnant’s visit at Nebraska will be much more important for the Huskers than the Ducks.
You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.