Oregon Football Recruiting: Ducks announce 2019 early signing day class
Mario Cristobal and the Oregon football staff has put together the top recruiting class in the Pac-12 on early national signing day.
The first year at Oregon for head coach Mario Cristobal was full of some ups and downs, but landing No. 2 overall recruit Kayvon Thibodeaux is the biggest up. The five-star defensive end picked the Ducks over Alabama, Florida and Florida State on Dec. 15 to move the Ducks up to the No. 5 class in the nation, per 247Sports.
Oregon also has the top recruiting class in the Pac-12 on early signing day and that’s the first step toward reclaiming the division and the conference. Cristobal came to Oregon with a reputation as a strong recruiter and he’s upheld that reputation in his first year in Eugene.
With a couple more recruiting classes like this, Oregon should be championship contenders and get back to the Rose Bowl.
Outside of Thibodeaux, who should be a starter from Day 1, the Ducks 2019 class is four-star cornerback Mykael Wright from Lancaster, CA. He’s the nation’s No. 43 overall recruit, No. 6 cornerback and the No. 7 recruit in California, per the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.
California is where Oregon identified a lot of their top recruits this year. Their top five signees and six of the top seven all come from the talent-rich state of California.
It’s a well-balanced class with a nice representation of defense and offense so there should be help coming across the depth chart. Naturally, the biggest recruit for Cristobal will be quarterback Justin Herbert who will have a decision to make whether he returns to Eugene for his senior season or declare for the NFL Draft.
With or without Herbert, Oregon’s 2019 recruiting class could be looked back on in a few years as the group that helped usher in a new positive era of Ducks football after a few years that didn’t quite meet the elevated expectations fans had grown used to. A top-10 class will certainly help that cause.