Ducks land Rivals250 QB

If ever a recruiting visit was well-timed, Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton QB Tyler Shough’s visit to Oregon fit that category. With the Ducks depleted at QB due to injury and transfer, the Rivals250 prospect arrived in Eugene to watch a Duck practice featuring a true freshman and a fifth-year senior at the top of the depth chart, with injured Justin Herbert the only other scholarship player at the position.

On Friday night, Shough’s twitter account mention of being a North Carolina commit disappeared, and on Saturday he gave Coach Willie Taggart a call.

Shough becomes the 23rd commitment to Oregon’s class of 2018, one that is shaping up to be one of the better ones in Duck history. 15 of the Ducks’ 23 commitments are four-stars.

What were the biggest reasons he made the switch?

“The situation that they have to offer and the coaching experience, the direction they are heading in,” Shough replied. “I talked to Justin Herbert, he seemed like a good guy and he is a good quarterback. I talked to Braxton and he is good too. But it’s obviously an attractive situation for a quarterback right now.”

“You see that and it is eye-opening. It’s like wow, they need a quarterback for this class. And that is why I wanted to check it out and see what they had to offer.”

With family in the area and frequent flyer miles to burn, the trip to Eugene this week was cheap and easy for the Shoughs.

“We had a bye week this week so it was really convenient for me and my mom,” Shough said. “She is from Springfield and we have family that lives in Albany. The coaches had been pushing hard and it was an easy trip for us so I figured we would come check it out.”

While this was not his first trip to the state, it was his first to the University.

“I have been to Oregon a number of times but I had never seen the actual school though,” said Shough. “It was amazing. They have top-notch facilities but I was just looking forward to meeting the coaches and to see what academic support they had to offer; what they have for life after football.”

The academic help available at the Jaqua Academic Center was impressive.

“It was surprising that they have invested as much money into that,” said Shough of Oregon’s academic support. “That was a huge part of my first decision, going to UNC was because of their academics. For my major, business, they have a really solid school. They had everything that I was looking for.”

And so does Oregon, along with Shough's commitment.