Four-star Jaylin Davies commits to Oregon
Jaylin Davies had a top seven in late March, a template for his recruitment moving forward as the coronavirus quarantine was just taking hold.
The list did not include Oregon. In the end, however, Oregon was the choice as Davies committed to the Ducks on Friday. Davies is the ninth four-star in the class for Oregon, which climbs to No. 7 in the team rankings.
Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, USC, UCLA, Washington and Arizona State made the cut for the Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei four-star cornerback and a late spring decision was becoming a possibility.
Over the next few weeks, though, Oregon started to become a player in his recruitment and when the Ducks’ coaching staff - led by Mario Cristobal on down through the assistants - want somebody especially in Southern California, often times they land that recruit.
In mid-May, a top four was released of Arizona State, Ohio State, Oregon and USC. Many thought the Trojans would be a bigger contender in his recruitment, especially since they’ve been recruiting better this cycle and Davies plays at Mater Dei, a traditional USC pipeline.
But as decision day got closer, Davies’ recruitment looked like a battle between Arizona State and Oregon. A close relationship to ASU assistant coach Chris Hawkins was huge (Davies plays on Hawkins’ father’s 7-on-7 team) and the two have known each other for a long time.
The four-star cornerback was sold on Oregon winning the conference last season and just how involved Cristobal had gotten in his recruitment. Following in the path of Thomas Graham and others - top Southern California recruits who also played for Ground Zero - was another selling point.
WHAT IT MEANS
Under Cristobal, Oregon has had tremendous success recruiting the state of California. This class is no exception. The Ducks reeled in four-star receiver Troy Franklin from Atherton (Calif.) Menlo-Atherton a week ago.
Davies was very serious about Arizona State. Ohio State and USC are tough to pass up. But Oregon put the full-court press on, he liked the opportunity in Eugene and now he’s another top California recruit who’s headed to Eugene.
He probably won’t be the last, either.