Movin' on Up: Oregon's Recruiting Classes
College football recruiting is fluid; it's difficult to succeed year in and year out. But the best programs continually attract top talent – and develop them into stars.
Of course, even the best recruiters can be snake-bit, defeated by such unforeseen circumstances as transfers, academic casualties and injuries. Still, Oregon has reached the championship doorstep twice in the last 10 years, and under two different head coaches.
How have the last dozen Duck classes stacked up, and how has Mario Cristobal pushed the envelope? Here's my honest opinion of how I think each class graded out overall.
A separate analysis will look at Oregon in the early years of the decade.
2014
Head coach: Mark Helfrich
National Rank: 21
Offensive headliner: Royce Freeman
Offensive grade: C-
Defensive headliner: Arrion Springs
Defensive grade: C-
2015
Head coach: Mark Helfrich
National rank: 16
Offensive headliner: Taj Griffin
Offensive grade: C-
Defensive headliner: Canton Kaumatule
Defensive grade: D+
2016
Head coach: Mark Helfrich
National rank: 27
Offensive headliner: Dillon Mitchell
Offensive grade: C+
Defensive headliner: Bryson Young
Defensive grade: C
2017
Head coaches: Willie Taggart/Mario Cristobal
National Rank: 19
Offensive headliner: Braxton Burmeister
Offensive grade: C-
Defensive headliner: Deommodore Lenoir
Defensive grade: B-
2018
Head coach: Mario Cristobal
National rank: 13
Offensive headliner: Penei Sewell
Offensive grade: B
Defensive headliner: Steve Stephens
Defensive Grade: C
2019
Head coach: Mario Cristobal
National Rank: 7
Offensive headliner: Jonah Tauanu’u
Offensive grade: B-
Defensive headliner: Kayvon Thibodeaux
Defensive grade: A
2020
Head coach: Mario Cristobal
National rank: 11
Offensive headliner: Jay Butterfield
Offensive grade (preliminary): A
Defensive headliner: Justin Flowe
Defensive grade (preliminary): A
2021
Head coach: Mario Cristobal
National rank: 6
Offensive headliner: Kingsley Suamataia
Offensive grade (preliminary): A
Defensive headliner: Keith Brown
Defensive grade (preliminary): A
Summary
As you can see, issues date back to the 2014 class.
Some of the Helfrich classes looked decent on paper, but they didn't live up to the hype. The 2016 class was the last under Helfrich because he did not meet expectations, and the result was a 4-win season.
Taggart got off to a blazing start on the trail, at one point having the nation's No. 1-ranked class, but a lot of skill players – following Taggart's lead – bolted in December. Still, the defensive haul was impressive with four-year starters Lenoir, Thomas Graham, Jordon Scott, etc.
In 2018, Cristobal demonstrated what can happen when a coach can sell the product on the field instead of just a dream. The progress continued in 2019, although we didn't get to see the strength of the 2018 class and 2019 classes in the 2020 season due to many early departures.
Both the 2020 and 2021 classes look great – so far. It will be interesting to see if those players can transcend and help elevate the program.
Clearly, Cristobal's trending upward. No wonder many fans think he is the guy who can upgrade Oregon football from bridesmaid to bride in the College Football Playoffs.