The month of February in the world of college football recruiting is officially not what it used to be.

Gone are the days of coaches and fans sweating out the decisions of 18-year-olds deep into the winter months. That stress and anxiety has been rewound to mid-December, as the early signing period has unequivocally solidified itself as the date on the recruiting calendar.

Quite honestly, if not for the recent hiring of offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, it’s entirely possible that the signing day press conference held by Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal would have been relegated to a press release, as only one prospect – four-star defensive lineman Jayson Jones – was signed by Oregon this past Wednesday.

Nevertheless, with the dust all but settled on the 2020 recruiting cycle, Cristobal and the Ducks finish with the no. 1 class in the Pac-12 for a second year in a row, in addition to inking the nation’s 12th-best recruiting class per 247Sports’ Composite Team Rankings. In all, 22 players will join what is already a deep and talented roster that is fresh off a 12-2 season complete with a Pac-12 Championship, Rose Bowl victory, and a top 5 finish in the national polls.

Before we turn the page to next season and the next recruiting cycle, WFOD offers up our final thoughts (and a few superlatives) on Oregon’s 2020 signees on the offensive side of the ball.

Quarterback

The Signees:

(4*) Jay Butterfield – 6’6″ 202 lbs. – Brentwood (Calif.) Liberty
(4*) Robby Ashford – 6’2″, 204 lbs. – Hoover (Ala.)

The Grade: A-

The Takeaway:

It’s difficult to poke too many holes in the way the Ducks recruited the quarterback position during the 2020 recruiting cycle. The only real disappointment came in early May, when five-star prospect and nation’s no. 1 pro-style quarterback DJ Uiagalelei announced his verbal commitment to Clemson not long after taking an unofficial visit to Eugene for the Oregon spring game. The pain of whatever sting that lingered following Uiagalelei’s announcement was quickly reduced just days later as the Ducks picked up a pledge from Butterfield, who ends the cycle ranked as the nation’s fifth-best pro-style passer.

He is joined by Ashford, a fellow four-star prospect, who was a two-sport star at Hoover (Ala.) High School (expected to also play baseball at Oregon) and who will arrive in Eugene with the reputation as a dual-threat quarterback who may be the most natural fit for Moorhead’s preferred offensive system. Alongside redshirt sophomore Tyler Shough and redshirt freshman Cale Millen, both Butterfield and Ashford should get an honest chance to compete for the opportunity to take the baton from four-year starter Justin Herbert. Between the two, Butterfield may be best positioned to make a run at the starting job considering he enrolled and arrived on campus in January.

Running Back

The Signee:

(3*) Trey Benson – 6’1″, 204 lbs. – Greenville (Miss.) St. Joseph

The Grade: B

The Takeaway:

It didn’t take long for Ducks running backs coach Jim Mastro to identify his man once the 2020 recruiting cycle started to take real shape for Oregon back in June. With a dearth of premier running backs on the West Coast in the 2020 class, Mastro looked beyond the Ducks’ perceived recruiting footprint and went to the Mississippi Delta to find who he believes is a player who checks all the boxes when it comes to personifying the physical and explosive characteristics Oregon looks to play with on offense.

That player is three-star prospect Trey Benson, a 6-foot-1, 204-pound freight train who Mastro expects to be around 215 to 220 pounds once he gets an opportunity to take advantage of Oregon’s strength and conditioning program headed by Aaron Feld. Benson should expect to find the reps at running back hard to come by initially, with junior CJ Verdell, Travis Dye, Cyrus Habibi-Likio, not to mention redshirt freshmen Sean Dollars and Jayvaun Wilson, already on the depth chart with plenty of runway remaining. However, it’s not a stretch to say that Benson perhaps possesses the best raw combination of skills of any running back currently on the Oregon roster, making him one of the more intriguing members of this freshman class to monitor this upcoming season.

Wide Receiver

The Signee:

(4*) Kris Hutson – 5’11”, 175 lbs. – Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco

The Grade: B

The Takeaway:

One could argue that the Ducks would have liked to add another wide receiver to this class following the flip of four-star prospect Johnny Wilson from Oregon to Arizona State. Committed to the program since late July, Wilson made the decision to de-commit from Oregon and sign with Arizona State during the early signing period, leaving the Ducks without the big-bodied pass catcher they had been coveting throughout much of the cycle. As the February signing period drew near, Oregon set its sights on another rangy, athletic four-star prospect in Venice (Fla.) product Malachi Wideman. That pursuit, however, ended fruitlessly, as the former Florida State verbal commit spurned the Ducks in order to stay closer to home and attend Tennessee.

Yet, despite the notable misses, not all was lost for the Ducks at the wide receiver position during the 2020 recruiting cycle. In fact, Oregon was able to land one of the most electric playmakers on the West Coast in four-star wideout Kris Hutson, who hails from SoCal high school powerhouse St. John Bosco in Bellflower. Once verbally committed to USC, Hutson remained as one of the longest tenured commitments to Oregon’s 2020 class after pledging to the Ducks in April. His presence, along with the in-season transfer of another receiver with ties to USC in Devon Williams, should provide the Ducks with their deepest and most talented collection of pass catchers in roughly half a decade.

Tight End

The Signee(s): None

The Grade: Incomplete

The Takeaway:

There’s no debating that it was an odd year for Oregon in their pursuit of a tight end in the class of 2020. One of the first recruits to verbally commit to the Ducks’ 2020 class was three-star tight end Seth Figgins, who originally hailed from Southern California before moving to Eugene prior to the start of his senior year. That transition ultimately proved to be a difficult one for Figgins, who never seemed to find traction on the field at Sheldon High School and eventually made the decision to move back to California with his family. Many have speculated the reasons for why Figgins failed to sign with the Ducks this cycle, but whatever the reasons may be, it appears that neither side found what they were looking for once the signing day dust settled.

Oregon would kick the tires on five-star prospect Darnell Washington, four-star prospect D.J. Rogers, and three-star prospect Jack Yary, but none of those names elevated to a point where the Ducks were considered a true favorite. It’s difficult to say whether the Ducks’ shortcomings at addressing tight end during the 2020 cycle was a byproduct of halfhearted interest in the prospects available or a lack of success in sealing the deal, but with two tight ends set to graduate at the end of the 2020 season, Oregon will need to be far more active in 2021 if they are to avoid compromised depth at the position moving forward.

Offensive Line

The Signees:

(3*) Faaope Laloulu – 6’7″, 390 lbs. – Honolulu (Hawaii) Farrington
(3*) Marcus Harper – 6’4″, 290 lbs. – Chicago (Ill.) Homewood-Flossmoor
(4*) Jonathan Denis – 6’3″, 279 lbs. – Homestead (Fla.) South Dade
(3*) Jaylan Jeffers – 6’6″, 260 lbs. – Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro
(3*) T.J. Bass – 6’5″, 330 lbs. – Oroville (Calif.) Butte College via Deming (Wash.) Mt. Baker

The Grade: B

The Takeaway:

With six offensive linemen having now departed from the program, the Ducks had no choice but to address the exodus with a flood of incoming talent that Mario Cristobal hopes is ready to compete for key reps come the start of the 2020 season. If Cristobal’s excitement when talking about this incoming class of offensive linemen is to be taken at face value, then the Ducks should have little to worry about as they look to replace 80 percent of a starting unit that ranked as the most experienced offensive line in college football last season.

Only a fool would expect it to be that easy, however. Cristobal and Ducks offensive line coach Alex Mirabal put in quality work this cycle by bringing in the bodies, but this is a group that is noticeably light on star power. Of course, that’s not to say this incoming class won’t be wildly successful, but it’s difficult to pinpoint who from this class is best suited to provide the Ducks with the immediate depth they need to make a return trip to the Pac-12 Championship and beyond. Of the five, Bass and Denis are currently on campus, giving them a head start on their development both physically and mentally over their fellow signees in Laloulu, Harper, and Jeffers. With that, expect both players to challenge for considerable playing time once the rubber really meets the road with the opening of fall camp in August.

WFOD’s Superlatives for the Class of 2020 (Offense)

Best pro prospect: Jay Butterfield
Most likely to make an immediate impact: T.J. Bass
Most intriguing: Trey Benson
Biggest sleeper: Jonathan Denis
Most difficult to project: Robby Ashford

Top Photo: Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal (Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports)