The Oregon Ducks had a fantastic season but couldn’t get past one team, the Washington Huskies. After they lost to them during the regular season, they couldn’t get revenge in the Pac-12 championship. Things went from bad to worse on Saturday when top quarterback recruit Michael Van Buren decommitted from the program.
BREAKING: Rivals250 QB Michael van Buren has decommitted from Oregon. Details here:https://t.co/T8wsSb8ls5 pic.twitter.com/ZFNNOQoCdq
— Adam Friedman (@RivalsFriedman) December 2, 2023
Oregon Ducks Recruit QB Michael Van Buren Decommits
Oregon may need to look elsewhere to find their quarterback of the future. Van Buren is the No. 13 quarterback recruit in the 2024 class according to 247 Sports. Overall, he is in the top 200 amongst all players. No matter how you slice it, that is a huge loss for the Ducks program. It is worth noting that Oregon does still have the seventh-best class in the nation according to 247 so it isn’t like they have no talent coming in. However, losing a quarterback recruit always hurts.
Transfer Portal?
What makes this loss hurt less is how prevalent the transfer portal is in the current college football landscape. Bo Nix was from Auburn and with the number of quarterbacks that have entered the portal this week, Oregon could easily recruit one from there. This is going to be interesting to watch going forward. Are there programs that will every year go to the transfer portal and completely ignore recruiting out of high school? It could be an interesting strategy.
The Oregon Ducks should be fine long term but losing a recruit is never a good thing. The preparation for the bowl game begins and then onto 2024.
