Four-star QB Waller picks Oregon
Travis Waller is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the 2015 class. And now he's committed to Oregon.
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The four-star from Anaheim (Calif.) Servite who's rated as the fifth-best player at his position and No. 104 overall by Rivals.com picked the Ducks over plenty of other major offers on Wednesday morning, wrapping up his recruitment which has taken many twists and turns recently.
"It's very exciting," Waller said. "It was always the place for me. I know they took a long time to offer but Oregon does do things differently. Better late than never sometimes so right when it came I talked to my family the next day and I committed. That's just the place for me.
"When I visited there, it's just an awesome place. I have a friend up there, too, and he was giving me the ins-and-outs of why Oregon is a great fit. He's just a student there and he's just a big part of the process. He told me a lot about the school, the student life, how each day goes and he's friends with all the athletes and he says they love it."
Earlier this summer, Alabama and Northwestern were considered the two favorites for Waller after he said as much at the Dana Hills Air Strike Passing Tournament.
That was before Oregon offered, though, and once the Ducks got involved, Waller got very interested in the program.
One issue was that it was strongly believed Corona (Calif.) Santiago four-star quarterback Blake Barnett was leaning toward Oregon but when he surprisingly picked Alabama in recent weeks, it opened the floodgates for Waller, who threw for 12 touchdowns and ran for 13 scores in his junior season.
"Coach (Scott) Frost said they're looking for that next (Marcus) Mariota aspect," Waller said. "They said I could possibly be that with a lot of hard work and dedication. When I get up there it's all business."
It turned out to be the perfect situation for Waller, who had also been hearing a lot from Ohio State and USC but neither program decided to offer in the end.
That opened up Oregon even more for Waller, one of the fastest-rising prospects in the 2015 class because of exceptional performances all off-season.
The four-star was fantastic at the RCS Southern California and then again at the Pylon Sports 7on7 in Las Vegas. Numerous major programs got more involved in his recruitment after Waller worked on his mechanics and had proven time and again to be one of the best quarterbacks in the class.
Anaheim Servite is not done with commitments this week. Three-star offensive lineman Clayton Johnston is expected to announce his decision on Wednesday with USC, Arizona State, Cal and Wake Forest as the four favorites.
Waller's commitment continues the quarterback carousel in California. One of the last ones left is San Clemente, Calif., standout Sam Darnold, who recently returned from a trip to Oregon and was just offered by USC as well. It seems like the Ducks might not be an option any longer with Waller's decision done.
The top quarterbacks in the state are now committed with Josh Rosen to UCLA, Ricky Town to USC, Barnett to Alabama, Brady White to Arizona State, Waller to Oregon, Jake Browning to Washington and Sheriron Jones to Florida among others leading the way.
Adam Gorney is a West Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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