Johnstone decides on Pac-10 school

Tyler Johnstone and Andre Yruretagoyena were classmates and soccer teammates in Vancouver, Wash., from first to third grade before Johnstone moved to New Mexico and Yruretagoyena headed for Arizona.

The two are set to reunite. Yruretagoyena, a four-star recruit from Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral, committed to Oregon on June 27 and Johnstone, a three-star prospect from Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton, pledged to the Ducks Tuesday. Both are offensive tackles.

Small world, huh?

"I completely had forgotten about him in general and came back to Arizona and heard again about him at U of A's junior day this year and I saw him and I was like, 'Hey, we were on each other's soccer team a long time ago,'" Johnstone said. "Ever since then we've been talking on Facebook.

"He committed to Oregon and told me and I already visited and said Oregon was sick. It's kind of crazy we're going to be coming back together like that. It's weird."

Maybe a little strange but also good news for Oregon because Yruretagoyena is rated the No. 11 offensive tackle nationally by Rivals.com and Johnstone is No. 28 in that category.

Johnstone, a 6-foot-6, 260-pounder, was one of the top offensive linemen at the Los Angeles NIKE Camp this spring and had picked up offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Colorado, Duke, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oregon State, San Diego State, TCU, UCLA, Washington, Washington State and many others.

But once Johnstone visited Eugene and thought about where his recruitment was headed he just didn't see the point in dragging things out any longer.

"I just didn't see the point in playing the recruiting game anymore," Johnstone said. "Whenever someone asked, 'Where are you leaning?' I would always say Oregon. They're my favorite since I visited the school. I got that feeling all the recruits talk about right before they commit.

"I was real comfortable with it. I loved it out there. Bar none it is my favorite school in the country so I didn't see the point to worrying about it anymore."

Oregon's coaching staff helped Johnstone ease into his decision especially coach Chip Kelly and offensive line coach Steve Greatwood. Reuniting with Yruretagoyena at Oregon won't be bad, either.

"Both Greatwood and coach Kelly had an influence on me," Johnstone said. "Greatwood especially since I'm going to be spending more time with him than coach Kelly.

"The way I kind of rank my o-line coaches is how do they develop players and if they're going to be sticking around. Greatwood has been there for 25-plus years and he is one of the best in the country and he's real personable and a real great guy. He's a lot of the reason why I'm going there."