Oregon has added another Rivals250 recruit to its 2023 class.
The latest big name to join the Ducks since Dan Lanning took over the program is California receiver Jurrion Dickey, who announced his college choice Monday evening. The four-star prospect from Valley Christian in the Bay Area ultimately picked Oregon over a final group of Washington, USC, UCLA and Penn State.
Dickey has been a priority for the new Oregon coaches since early in the cycle, and he was able to get out on campus for multiple visits before making his decision. Like so many other recruits who make commitments, there was something that just felt right about Eugene for the 6-foot-2 receiver.
“I ended up loving it up there," Dickey said. "My brothers they went on all my visits with me, and they loved it up there, too.”
Dickey’s future receivers coach, Junior Adams, is also from the Bay Area giving the Ducks a built-in connection to the four-star prospect. The relationships that Dickey was able to build with Oregon’s coaches helped solidify his decision and proved to be a big part of the overall process for the 2023 recruit.
“The new coaching staff is different,” he said. “A lot of them are from the Bay Area, so they know different things and know how to get at me in certain, different ways.”
Adams has been on a roll since stepping in with the Ducks after previously serving in a similar position at Washington. It didn’t take long for the new Oregon receivers coach to make his mark landing a commitment from Lake Oswego pass-catcher Justius Lowe in January. He followed that up last month with pledge from four-star Rivals100 receiver Kyler Kasper, who reclassified to join the 2022 class.
Dickey is the latest win on the recruiting trail for Adams, and the four-star prospect likes his fit with the Ducks’ offense and believes his decision will help spark others to join him in Eugene.
“They see me with how versatile I am because I can do everything on the field no matter what it is,” he said. “My thing is that I’m a big game changer. When I come people tend to follow, and I make a big impact within the field and off the field.”
One element of Dickey’s decision that shouldn’t be overlooked is his love for fishing. It’s much more than a hobby for the new Oregon commit. It’s one of his passions in life. So much so, that he ended up spending time fishing with Lanning on a visit to Eugene earlier in the year.
While it could be something that the average fan might not put a lot of stock in, picking a school that would allow Dickey to continue pursuing his favorite pastime while playing college football actually factored greatly into his decision.
“Fishing played a big part in it,” he said. “I have to have fishing near me. If not there’s gonna be no point of it, because fishing is one thing I love to do. I love to fish and I love to play football. I’m not really a party type of guy, and I don’t like getting caught in that atmosphere because it can either go good or go bad.
“You can never go wrong with fishing, and I gotta have that so I won’t be distracted. So, that played a big part, because when I’m not in football I can go fishing.”
Dickey won’t have his first opportunity to sign with the Ducks until December, and he wasn’t in any particular type of rush to make a decision. But, getting another opportunity to see the team again at its recent spring game pulled everything together for the four-star recruit and Oregon.
Committing in the spring also gives him some relief as he looks forward to the end of his junior year and the beginning of his senior season this fall.
“This is big being able to get this off my shoulders and focus on school and my next sports,” he said. “Spring football is coming up and I’m in track right now. So, I can just focus on that. All this week I wasn’t able to participate in track practice because I was doing video shoots for today. So, it’s finally out of the way, so that I can focus on all of that.”
Dickey is the third member of Oregon’s 2023 class joining four-star cornerback Cole Martin and Utah-based defensive lineman Tevita Pome’e. He is the fourth high school recruit to pick the Ducks over the last month in addition to Pome’e, Kasper and five-star offensive lineman Josh Conerly, Jr., who was another late addition to the 2022 class.
As a junior Dickey proved to be a valuable weapon all over the field at Valley Christian. He caught 78 passes for 1,304 yards receiving and 19 touchdowns plus he contributed in the running game on defense and on special teams. In all, he accounted for 23 touchdowns during the 2021 season.
