Oregon lands first commit

Oregon landed their first commitment of the year picking up an outstanding local player over the weekend. It was a case of the early bird or should we say Duck, catches the worm.

The newest Duck is defensive lineman Taylor Hart (6-6, 245, 4.7) from Tualatin, Ore.

"Taylor committed to the Ducks," Doug Hart, Taylor's Dad said. "He always wanted to be a Duck and he was also very impressed with their coaching staff."

The Ducks recruited Hart as a defensive end though he has been playing defensive tackle on the high school level. He started his junior season as a defensive end, but the Tualatin coaching staff decided to move him inside so they couldn't run away from him, but he projects on the collegiate level as a defensive end.

Before the Ducks offered Hart they wanted to eyeball him and make sure that his size, speed and personal intensity matched what they saw on tape.

One of the things that stood out to the Oregon coaching staff about Hart was his game speed. He opened their eyes during the Oregon high school state championship game when Hart chased down the opposition's quarterback 20 yards down the sideline.

As it was, Hart received letters from Michigan, BYU, Stanford, Washington and in-state rival, Oregon State.

Why the early commitment?

"Taylor has always been impressed by the Oregon program," the elder Hart said. "They have state of the art facilities and it appears their facilities are on par with NFL teams.