Oregon football has a lot of new faces on campus this spring. And by a lot, I mean the most early enrollees the program has had with 16 guys making their way to campus a semester early.
Mario Cristobal has landed a group of guys in the 2021 class that didn’t mind leaving high school life a semester early and preparing for college ball. That was probably aided with most schools going online due to COVID-19, but it’s still impressive to see over a dozen early enrollees.
Guys have bought into his system early on and they’re showing that they’re going to adjust to college just fine.
Cristobal praised his incoming group of early enrolled freshmen last week after the first handful of practices, stating that they’ve all made some plays, according to Matt Prehm of 247Sports.
"“It’s more of who hasn’t made an impression so far, and that’s about being dead honest as I can be. They have all been called on to make plays and they make plays.”"
It might seem like coachspeak but Cristobal didn’t have a single bad thing to say about his vast group of talented freshmen.
And then there was this eye-opening quote:
"“This is as talented of a group of young players as I’ve ever been around.”"
Not too shabby for a reigning Pac-12 champ which is already bringing back some of the most talent in school history.
Early enrolled Oregon football freshmen will crack two-deep
After hearing Cristobal’s quotes, it’s pretty clear that the Ducks will be relying on these newcomers to make the two-deep this fall.
Ty Thompson should already be pushing Anthony Brown for the starting quarterback job, Kingsley Suamataia and Bram Walden could help replace Penei Sewell, Troy Franklin and Dont’e Thornton will be tough to keep off the field at receiver and Keith Brown and Jaylin Davies will bolster the defense. And those are just the top-150 enrollees.
This could end up being the best recruiting class in school history and getting over a dozen freshmen on campus early is only going to help the push for another Pac-12 title.