Recruiting Notebook: Quiet Month for the Ducks but Look for Things to Pick Up

Outside of nearly all the top targets on their board committing to USC, it's been a quiet month in recruiting for the Ducks. As I wrote about recently, all of the commitments to USC have caused a fair amount of anxiety amongst Ducks fans, though I think it's premature to worry about the Ducks' 2012 recruiting class. Signing day isn't until February and until then recruits are fair game, regardless of whether or not they're "committed" elsewhere. Many USC commits plan to take visits elsewhere (some to Oregon), while there has already been a fair amount of commitment-switching by recruits in other locales.

The rate at which players are being offered and making commitments this year is unprecedented. Bud Elliott of SBNation Recruiting recently wrote about the trend of early offers and commitments and makes the argument that it's an unintended outcome of the NCAA moving back the date at which schools can make formal written offers to players. It's an interesting argument and I think it has some merit, though as Bud acknowledges, other factors are at play as well. Despite this trend, Oregon continues to play a slow hand and stick to their formula of doing a lot of evaluation before making an offer. Obviously, it will be very interesting to see how this strategy plays out over the next six months and whether going against convention and staying "old school" can still yield a successful class.

Slow recruiting aside, there are signs of life from the recruiting trail as 247sports, Scout, and Rivals have all recently linked Oregon to a number of new targets, including: Marquel Combs, a 305 lbs Defensive Tackle from Woodland Hills Junior College; Montravius Adams from Georgia, the number 1 defensive tackle prospect in the country; and Jaynard Bostwick, a 290 lbs defensive lineman from Florida. It doesn't sound like any commitments are imminent but Oregon is involved in the recruitment of all three.

The Ducks also continue to pursue a third running back in the 2013 class and remain most interested in Derrick Green, a 6'0, 218 lbs bruiser from Richmond, Virginia who was first offered in April. Green recently narrowed his list of schools down to six and Oregon made the cut, along with Auburn, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virgina Tech. If Green doesn't commit expect Oregon to offer Laray Smith from Brooklyn, New York. Smith is a four star back who possesses a similar skill set to current Oregon commits Dontre Wilson and Thomas Tyner.

With fall practices starting this week and actual football games in less than a month, look for recruiting and commitments to begin picking up soon.