Even though the outcome of the announcement itself was one that had been widely anticipated for months in advance, it wasn’t any less thrilling for Duck fans to learn late Friday night that their beloved program had landed one of the highest-rated recruits in program history.

In the midst of a minutes-old championship celebration and in front a local television audience in Utah that had a swell of Oregon football fans watching via streaming links online, Orem (Utah) five-star prospect Noah Sewell announced his verbal commitment to the Ducks.

Hell ya Noah Sewell a freaking duck! pic.twitter.com/RfR23wO0LA

— Nephi Iverson (@NephiIverson) November 23, 2019

The younger brother of all-world Oregon offensive lineman Penei Sewell, Noah Sewell is set to arrive in Eugene as not only the highest-rated linebacker recruit in Oregon history, but as the ninth-best overall recruit to commit to the Ducks in the modern recruiting era. Only names such as Kayvon Thibodeaux, Haloti Ngata, Arik Armstead, and Canton Kaumatule rank higher than Sewell as the most highly-touted defensive players to ever pledge to Oregon.

With his commitment, Sewell joins Jaden Navarrette and Jackson LaDuke to become the third linebacker to join Oregon’s 23-man 2020 recruiting class, which now ranks as the ninth-best recruiting class in the country per 247Sports’ Composite Team Rankings.

Sewell chose the Ducks over 30-plus offers from some of the nation’s most prominent college football powers, including Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, LSU, and Ohio State.

Below we take a closer look at Sewell’s game, examining his weaknesses and strengths, as well as projecting how he may make an impact for the Ducks when he ultimately arrives on campus.

Notable weaknesses:

• Somewhat positionally ambiguous: It’s going to be interesting to see where Sewell winds up at the next level. Though he has a decent enough frame to develop into a defensive tackle, he’s on the smaller end of the spectrum in terms of the players you see at the collegiate and professional level. Linebacker may be his best fit, but he’s a little too bulky at his current weight. Running back could be a potential landing spot, but that’s a position he may be a bit overgrown for as well. In many ways, his ability to be a position-less football player is a strength, but his body type is such that it kind of makes him an odd fit at every position.
• Weight could be an issue: He may be a multi-faceted physical marvel who has shown he can absolutely dominate at the high school level, but as Sewell transitions to college, his weight and the way his body matures will be something to note. The Ducks’ strength and conditioning program will no doubt relish the opportunity to mold Sewell into whatever they envision for him, but the direction his body will take him in is a bit of a mystery.

Notable strengths:

• One of the rarest athletes you’ll see: It’s almost comical the things Noah Sewell can do on a football field. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 266 pounds, Sewell is a player who is built like a defensive tackle in-training, excels at linebacker, and moves like an elite-tier safety. And that’s just on defense. When lined up as a running back for his Orem High School team, he looks like a potential future All-American in the breath-taking way he combines size, speed, power, and agility. There are so many things that are remarkable about a prospect like Noah Sewell, but the physical quality that strikes us the most is the suddenness and agility he plays with for a person of his size. This is an athlete who was not just born to play football, but born to dominate from a physical standpoint.
• Highly instinctual: In addition to his literal jaw-dropping athleticism, Sewell possesses preternatural football instincts that will enable him to challenge for playing time early in his career. Physically, Sewell will discover that he has equals at the collegiate level, but his ability to diagnosis the action and seamlessly fly into position to make a play is uncommon.
• Violent striker: The combination of the first two strengths is enough to cement Sewell as a five-star athlete, but a quality that makes him transcendent amongst defenders in this class is the violent nature of his game. Sewell plays with a seek and destroy mentality on the football field and is a player who understands the value of playing with a high level of physicality.

Overall outlook:

Seriously, where does one even begin when asked to summarize talents of Noah Sewell? In some ways, he’s the ultimate football prospect; a player blessed with such unique abilities that it’s not really a stretch to seem excelling at just about any position you put him in. Every recruiting class features a handful of players who truly transcend the crop of talent that is available during a certain recruiting cycle, and it’s not hyperbole to say that Sewell is unequivocally one of those talents. Expected to play somewhere at linebacker for the Ducks when he arrives in Eugene, Sewell will be an immediate contender for playing time the moment he steps foot inside the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex. And the opportunity will be there, as the Ducks graduate three linebackers – Troy Dye, La’Mar Winston, and Bryson Young – at the conclusion of the 2019 season. In terms of raw ability, Sewell is hands down one of the most impressive Oregon commits we’ve seen on tape, not just during the 2020 cycle, but in recent memory. Just like Kayvon Thibodeaux was last year, Noah Sewell is a program-altering prospect who now resides as the head and shoulders crown jewel of the Ducks’ 2020 recruiting class.