With spring football now squarely in the rear-view mirror and the dog days of late spring and summer lying just beyond the horizon, now feels like as good a time as any to re-evaluate where things stand with some of the biggest targets for the Ducks in the 2020 recruiting cycle.
Back in February, WFOD set the table for Duck fans by offering an early look at the names on both offense and defense that recruitniks should familiarize themselves with as Oregon looks to repeat their otherworldly performance on the recruiting trail last season.
Today we continue the exercise of revisiting the Ducks’ top 2020 targets by taking a position-by-position look at the recruits currently believed to be in play. At the end of the series, we’ll submit our educated long-range guess as to what Oregon’s class could look like with more than six months remaining between now and the early signing period in December.
Running Back
The Top Target: (5*) Kendall Milton – 6’2″, 220 lbs. – Clovis (Calif.) Buchanan
Other prospects of note:
(4*) Sam Adams II – 6’2″, 200 lbs. – Sammamish (Wash.) Eastside Catholic
(4*) Jalen Berger – 6’0″, 187 lbs. – Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep
(4*) Tirek Murphy – 6’0″, 220 lbs. – Middle Village (N.Y.) Christ The King Regional
(4*) Daniyel Ngata – 5’9″, 180 lbs. – Folsom (Calif.)
(3*) Trey Benson – 6’0″, 205 lbs. – Greenville (Miss.) St. Joseph
In all honesty, considering the tremendous depth and youth on the Oregon roster at running back, it would come as no surprise to see the Ducks stand pat on taking a running back during the 2020 cycle. Especially when you consider the Ducks already have verbal commitments from top running backs in both the 2021 and 2022 class, respectively, in Seven McGee and Jaydn Ott.
Of the 2020 options, however, none is bigger in our estimation than five-star prospect Kendall Milton. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Milton is the prototypical workhorse back that would fit seamlessly in Oregon’s power scheme under head coach Mario Cristobal. The only question is, does Milton view the Ducks in a similar fashion? With 40 scholarship offers to his name, Milton has the proverbial pick of the litter when it comes to determining where he wants to spend his college years. Milton took an unofficial visit to Eugene in late January, but has spent most of the spring touring a who’s who of elite programs from coast-to-coast. As of the publish date of this article, Oklahoma stands as the current favorite to land Milton, with the Sooners commanding 64 percent of the Crystal Ball predictions on 247Sports.
The most likely bets to wind up as Ducks at this juncture appear to be four-star Tirek Murphy and three-star prospect Trey Benson. In the case of Murphy, Oregon has been a major player in his recruitment since offering him in early February. Murphy was in Eugene last weekend as part of the Ducks’ massive recruiting event and had nothing but glowing remarks about the program and the staff following his visit. Expect the Ducks to receive an official visit from Murphy later this fall. Benson is in a similar boat, as the Ducks are also a good bet to receive an official visit from the Mississippi product. With 23 offers in hand, Oregon has been surging for the three-star prospect after extending Benson an offer in late March. Though not as big and bruising as Murphy or Milton, Benson has good size and breakaway speed and would give Oregon yet another link to the Southeast after signing eight prospects from the region last cycle.
Re-examining Oregon’s targets entering the May eval period: Quarterback