A pistol shot rang out in Oregon recruiting yesterday. Dan Lanning got a commitment from Dylan Williams, the 2024 four-star linebacker from Long Beach Poly in Long Beach, California.
When Oregon lost 49-3 to Georgia last September at a "neutral site" game in Atlanta, the media asked Kirby Smart about Dan Lanning and Smart said, "He's gonna do a really good job at Oregon. He's relentless. They'll bounce back from this, and he knows we have better players. He'll never say that, but he knows we've got better players."
Smart was just telling it like it is. In the ten months since, Dan Lanning has quickly and decisively begun the business of finding better players.
Williams is the latest and most emphatic example. He hits like a freight train and ranges sideline to sideline. He's 6-2.5, 210 pounds, mobile, violent and smart, one of the top 200 players in the country according to the 247Sports Composite. He plays with speed and style.
The Jackrabbit star told Chad Simmons of On3 Sports, "If you play defense and you go to school on the West Coast, you want to go to Oregon. Coach Dan Lanning and Coach Tosh Lupoi develop players."
Williams plays nothing but the hits. Last fall he racked up 79 total tackles (53 solo), 4.5 sacks and 25.5 tackles for loss. An exceptional athlete, he also competes in track at Poly with personal bests of 43.14 in the 300 meter hurdles, 16.7 in the 110 meter hurdles, 23.3 in the 200 meters, 52.87 in the 400.
Not many 210-pound linebackers can do that, or this:
@Dwill_2024 6’3 210 Long Beach Poly LB/SS/TE who hurdles for our track team showing you how athletic he is. STOP PLAYING! pic.twitter.com/JHxDva8q1n
— CoachH20 (@MFalanai) March 30, 2022
Just fooling around in the gym, in street clothes.
His commitment is especially significant because Oregon doesn't have a natural recruiting base. The state typically produces three or four Division One prospects a year. To compete nationally and in the PAC-12, you have to go where the players are, and there are a bunch in Southern California. And, every player you get out of SoCal is a player that doesn't go to USC (where Williams was briefly committed,) UCLA, Washington or the rest of the league.
In April 2022 John Davis of the Long Beach Press-Telegram asked Jackrabbit head coach Steven Barber about his promising sophomore. He’s a great kid,” Barbee said. “I really couldn’t be more proud of the work he’s put in. He is an incredible talent, a nationwide talent to be very honest. He has the ability from a defensive side to be able to shut down half the field from his outside linebacker position.”
Like money, recruiting never sleeps. Williams is the 19th commitment for the Ducks in a 2024 class that currently stands 6th in the country according to the Rivals Team Rankings. On Tuesday July 11th 6-3, 220 four-star linebacker Kamar Mothudi of Los Alamitos High announces his commitment and the Ducks are favorites to land him. September 4th, inside linebacker Brayden Platt, 6-2, 240 from Yelm, Washington makes his announcement.
Williams was Oregon's first linebacker commit for 2024, but he won't be the last: they're also still in the running for 5-star linebacker Justin Williams of Oakridge High School in Conroe, Texas. In a simple twist of fate, that one is a head-to-head battle with Georgia and Kirby Smart.
No comments:
Post a Comment