QUAAAACK: Four-star LB Brayden Platt commits to Oregon over Oklahoma

Oregon's top-10 2024 recruiting class grew by one more Monday, and it was a commitment that was a long time in the making. Four-star linebacker Brayden Platt announced his choice of the Ducks over Oklahoma on Labor Day giving Dan Lanning's defense its third four-star commit at the position in the cycle.

Platt built an impressive offer list throughout his recruitment with many of the top programs from around the country pursuing the 6-foot-2 senior from Yelm, Washington.

Ultimately, he narrowed his choices to the Ducks and Sooners, and now he will be staying close to home to play for Oregon as the program prepares to move to the Big Ten next year.

That conference move could be a perfect fit for the 245-pound Platt, who had already been examining options in that league before Oregon announced its move. Platt's previous top list included programs such as UCLA, USC and Michigan among several others from around the country.

Now, he will get an opportunity with the Ducks, and the coaching staff played a big part in bringing him to Eugene — Lanning in particular in addition to Tosh Lupoi.

"It's really exciting, especially with him being a defensive-minded head coach," Platt said. "It's really good."

Platt, who also has a background in track and field, has hopes of playing the game professionally one day, and Oregon's ability to help him make that a reality was a consistent part of the pitch from the Ducks.

"Definitely the facilities," he said about how Oregon separated itself. "But, also they have a bunch of linebacker coaches, ex-linebacker coaches. So, I feel like that's really good for development. ... The end goal is to go to the NFL."

Platt joins fellow linebackers Dylan Williams and Kamar Mothudi on the Oregon commitment list as the third four-star member of the unit for 2024. Sacramento-based athlete Kingston Lopa is also listed as an outside linebacker prospect by Rivals.

The Ducks signed just two linebackers in the 2023 class, Jerry Mixon and Blake Purchase, and it has been a priority for the staff since arriving to make the 2024 linebacker group a special one.

That has come to fruition, and Platt is the latest piece of an impressive haul at that position.

Oregon now has 23 commitments in the class. Platt's decision means the Ducks now hold commitments from two of the top four recruits from Washington in the cycle as he joins offensive lineman Fox Crader on that list.

The program also remains in play for four-star Seattle-based running back Jason Brown, the No. 2-ranked recruit in the Rivals Washington state rankings.

Notre Dame, Miami, Washington, Utah, Michigan State, Texas A&M and Nebraska are some of the other programs Oregon beat out to land Platt's commitment Monday.

Platt racked up 50 tackles and 5 tackles for loss as a junior. So far this season, the new Oregon commitment has 7 tackles a pair of tackles for loss.

He earned the Gatorade Player of the Year award for 2022-23.