Oregon Football: Do Ducks have shot with 5-star OT Kelvin Banks?

Kelvin Banks was getting set to announce his college decision near the end of July, but on Friday, he announced a change of plans. In fact, he posted on Twitter that he had a “change of plans” and will now be announcing on July 4.

There are some big names in the running for the five-star offensive tackle from Texas such as LSU, Oklahoma State (where he was once committed), Texas A&M, and Texas.

Oregon got his second official visit back on June 8 and made a solid impression on him.

Banks actually raved about Oregon as an offensive line factory, according to 247Sports. Erik Skopil posted some of his post-visit quotes on Friday and this really stood out.

"“Who wouldn’t want to go play for two o-line coaches? That’s like double the development,” Banks told DuckTerritory.com after his visit. “They are going to be on you all the time. They develop o-linemen. That’s the o-linemen school. If you’re going to go there, you have to be a great o-lineman.”"

Recruits see someone like Penei Sewell and immediately think “O-lineman school” which isn’t a bad thing if you’re the Ducks.

What are Oregon football’s realistic chances here?

With a decision looming on Sunday and after getting one of his official visits where he raved about the school and its ability to develop elite offensive linemen, Oregon has to feel like it’s in good shape.

However, he has the lure of staying in Texas with either the Longhorns or Texas A&M who I believe are his presumed leaders at the moment. He was once committed to Oklahoma State and he stayed close with them so there’s a familiarity there and LSU is just an elite recruiting program so I wouldn’t count them out but I’d also go with the Tigers being fifth here.

Right now, I’d say Texas is the leader for the No. 14 overall recruit and second-best offensive tackle in the 2022 class. Behind the Longhorns, I’d probably put Texas A&M and Oregon with Oklahoma State just trying to stay afloat after he decommitted.

The Ducks would make sense but they just landed two commitments this week on the offensive line, though Banks would immediately be the best of the bunch.

I give the Ducks a 25 percent shot here with Texas as the clear favorite.