High school recruiting is the foundation of successful college football teams. It's still a development sport, particularly in the trenches.
While Oregon has utilized the portal as well as anyone, the core of a program comes from players who have internalized the values and grown up in the system. The last five national champions built their teams through high school recruiting, most with Top Five classes.
Recent national champions, last five high school recruiting classes before winning title:
Ohio State's 2024: 3, 4, 4, 4, 2
Georgia 2022: 3, 4, 1, 2, 1
Georgia 2021: 4, 1, 2, 1, 3
Alabama 2020: 2, 1, 5, 1, 1
Michigan 2023, the relative outlier: 17, 9, 13, 10, 8, 22.
Source: Rivals Team Rankings, 247 Sports Composite
The Wolverine's national championship was fueled by an exceptional nucleus, a Covid bubble of fourth and fifth-year starters, a charismatic head coach and to one degree or another, a sign-stealing scandal.
NIL and the portal are new resources, but so far they haven't revolutionized who winds up on top. It still takes dudes to win.
Top 1️⃣0️⃣ Impact transfers in college football via Max Chadwick of @PFF 👀📈📉
— DuckZone503 (@DuckZone503) June 13, 2025
Oregon RB Makhi Hughes & Safety Dillon Thieneman make the list 🦆🔥 pic.twitter.com/vj6vhBYcrw
The House Settlement and the inevitable flood of resulting lawsuits may shift things a bit in the future, but the majority of high-impact players are four and five-star recruits who sign with a school and develop there.
The number of blue-chip, immediate-impact guys available in the portal is limited. That could change-- over 3,300 players entered in 2025, up from 786 in 2021, but a great many of those are not difference-makers. Many will be out of football.
Marshall Malchow and the Oregon staff had to do a lot of careful evaluating to find Dillon Thieneman, Makhi Hughes, Isaiah World, Emmanuel Pregnon, Theran Johnson and Malik Benson in the portal. Dante Moore was a two-year project of relationship-building and timing.
It's easy to whistle in the dark past Oregon's dismal recruiting standing in the 2026 class. Currently the Ducks stand 11th in the Big Ten rankings with seven commitments, 33rd nationally. In the conference only Maryland and Nebraska have fewer commitments.
The Ducks need momentum in recruiting, and soon. Messiah Hampton's commitment today and upcoming visits by Ryder Lyons and Immanuel Iheanacho are crucial. It takes players to win, and the nucleus is still built through high school recruiting.
In Dan Lanning's three years at Oregon, his classes have ranked 5, 6 and 9. He was hired two weeks before Early Signing Day in 2021, and that class (2022 recruits) came in at No. 23.
The Ducks bridged the gap with portal finds like Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, Bucky Irving, Derrick Harmon and Jordan Burch. Few programs have done as well mining the portal. Many try.
As June turns to July, top recruits like Hampton, Lyons, Iheanacho, Brandon Arrington, Richard Wesley and Jett Washington are going to announce decisions. The Ducks need a few recruiting wins to stay relevant in college football.