Over the weekend Marcus Fakatou, the 6-7, 280 five-star defensive lineman from Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California, took home visits from Oregon, Notre Dame and Texas.
The Ducks sent out defensive line coach Tony Tuioti and Marshall Malchow, the Chief of Operations, who only travels for the serious conversations.
At Orange Lutheran last year Fakatou posted 69 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and eight blocked kicks. Since reclassifying from the 2028 class to 2027 last November, he's emerged as the No. 2 defensive lineman in the country, intensely sought after for his elite size and movement.
Fakatou blossomed early, collecting seven offers by eighth grade. A scout says, "The reason he is ranked so high, is that his athleticism for his size is not normal."
What a busy week! Thank you @CoachTuioti92 @MarshallDucks for the visit! 🙏🏽@oregonfootball @CoachDanLanning pic.twitter.com/rblH5ioW66
— Marcus Fakatou 🇹🇴 (@MarcusFakatou) May 9, 2026
A former rugby player who grew up in Alaska, he trains with Brock Newton of 93 Mentality to improve his footwork, explosion and agility. Videographer Taegan Maysami chronicles his recruiting journey, posted on Instagram and YouTube.
Fakatou calls April Oregon visit 'incredible,' returns for an official trip on June 12
In spite of the scrutiny, Fakatou maintains perspective. On his Oregon recruiting visit over the weekend of April 1, he wore a sweatshirt that read "Forever Thankful," in another video, "Faith Over Fear."
He chats with Matayo Uiagalelei about training goals and ideal weight. A first-round NFL prospect, Uiagalelei tells him, "Now, if you want to stay on the edge, you're a bigger frame, too. So, you could be like 280, 285."
"That's really the main thing, to improve your body composition."
The family still lives in Alaska while Marcus resides with relatives to train and compete in the football hotbed of Southern California. Dan Lanning meets them for lunch, rushing out of a meeting. Fakatou's mother asks about the business school as her son wants to study real estate, already planning for the day the air goes out of the ball.
Lanning has a ready answer.
"I think our business school is awesome and it's the relationship too that we have with them because you know you'll figure this out," Lanning said. A lot of schools you go to and they'll tell you about all these majors and you'll be like what football players are in that major? They're not right. They're all taking like social science."
"But our players just have we just had the highest GPA in in our team in our program history. So we have over a 3.00 GPA average for our entire team which is pretty awesome. Our edge room was 3.6 GPA average GPA. What was the D line?"
A staffer answers, "3.3."
"Okay, where else is the edge in the Dline performing like that?"
On tour, they show him the tutoring rooms and the new practice facility, under construction, then out to Hayward Field.
In January he told Rivals, “The coaches came in to see me twice during the contact period and I like those guys a lot. I’ve been there a few times, love the atmosphere and the energy and really fit in well there.”
Despite making the final five, Oregon seems to trail behind Notre Dame and Ohio State in his recruiting process. On Monday he eliminated USC.
Elite defensive linemen with NFL size are the rarest of jewels on the West Coast. He's scheduled an official visit to Eugene for June 12, the Irish on June 15, OSU May 29, Texas June 4.
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