Trent Ferguson had never played in a football game until last October. After years of prodding by West Salem High School coach Shawn Stanley, he came out for the team last year but was sidelined much of the season recovering from a basketball injury.

"He hadn't played football before this, but when he did it was pretty obvious real fast he was special," Stanley said. "There's not a lot of 6-7, 315-pound guys who can move like him. The first time he played -- played the entire game at tackle for us -- he'd never even had a football uniform on. We'd done the minimum [practice] days by OSAA rule to get him ready to go, but that was it. He started the whole game, had 6 or 7 pancakes, didn't give up a sack."

West Salem's final game of the season was against Sheldon HS out of Eugene. Oregon defensive line coach Tony Tuioti's son plays for Sheldon, so he and then-Ducks offensive line coach Adrian Klemm came to watch the game.

They couldn't help but notice Ferguson in the process.

"They saw me and were like, 'Woah, who's this kid?' Saw me, invited me to one of the games vs. Washington and then offered me. It was unreal," Ferguson told Duck Sports Authority. "Coach Klemm was the first one to tell me and it was just in passing. The Ducks were doing their Duck Walk around the stadium and I saw him, like, 'I think you have huge potential. I want to offer you a full-ride scholarship to the University of Oregon.' And I just looked at him. He said, 'You're looking at me like you don't believe me.' I was like, just shocked."

On Wednesday, Ferguson announced his commitment to Oregon.

Ultimately, it came down to the Ducks and rival Oregon State. After thoroughly checking out both programs -- including a visit to Oregon last weekend -- Ferguson knew.

"Those were my top two schools, I've been a Duck fan my whole life, and after going to Oregon I realized that was the school I wanted to go to. I felt there was no reason in waiting longer if I felt in my heart that was the right decision," he said.