Rivals has released its last update to the 2023 class rankings before the start of the upcoming season, and with Oregon currently sitting among the top five classes in the country there are of course future Ducks on the list. West Linn point guard Jackson Shelstad is the big winner in the latest round of updates for the Ducks as he made a significant move up the list.
Here is a closer look at the current class and where each member of the group now sits after the update.
Jackson Shelstad among big movers
At his highest point, the four-star point guard from West Linn High School was rated as the 59th-best prospect in the class. Shelstad is now on his way back up the list after dropping to as low as No. 124 last August. Consistency and continued development have helped Shelstad make a move back up the list, and this week he jumped 16 spots from his previous position at No. 78. The standout point guard moved up 38 spots in the previous update as he continues to trend in the right direction heading into his senior season.
Shelstad shined at the Pangos All-American Camp in Las Vegas late in the spring and eventually earned a spot in the camp's top all-star game, which was limited to just 30 campers overall. He then moved on to finish his travel ball career with the Oakland Soldiers in July alongside fellow Ducks commit Mookie Cook.
The 6-foot point guard was the first commit in the class for Dana Altman in the class, which recently received a boost with commitments from Cook and five-star wing KJ Evans. Shelstand has been an extra recruiter for the Ducks since joining the class last November in helping Oregon build its current group.
Despite his continued progress this offseason, Shelstad still has some areas in his game that he is hoping to improve before arriving on campus in Eugene.
"I think I need to get craftier around the hoop," he said this summer. "It's a little bit different playing in Oregon high school, where I play at, than going in the EYBL against 7-footers. So I have to get craftier around the hoop, so I'm really working on that. And, obviously, I just need to get bigger."
Evans, Cook move down in latest update
It's rare that there isn't some kind of movement throughout the course of a recruit's high school career, and that has been the case for Oregon's two highest-rated prospects in the class. At one point both Cook and Evans have been in the discussion about potentially being the best recruit in the class. Neither has reached that top spot yet, but both continue to hold top-25 rankings.
The latest round of updates has brought a move down the Rivals150 for both Oregon commits with Evans moving down just a few spots to No. 16 while Cook had a bit more of a slide down to No. 25 from his previous position at No. 8 overall. Rivals national recruiting director Rob Cassidy recently listed Cook as his top prospect with something to prove this season explaining the drop in ranking for the former five-star prospect.
"Cook skipped the majority of the grassroots season in order to star as a young LeBron James in an upcoming biopic," Cassidy wrote. "When the five-star returned for a short stint in the EYBL, he looked understandably rusty. There’s no reason to panic, obviously, as Cook’s track record suggests he’ll be back to his old self by the time he starts his senior season at Arizona Compass prep."
Evans remains one of Oregon's biggest pickups in Altman's time leading the program, and he continues to be one of the elite prospects in the class despite a small drop this time around. He did make a move up in the small forward position rankings to No. 5 pushing him ahead of Cook, who now sits at No. 6 among that group.
