TAKE ONE:

The first thought that comes to mind this week for a fresh perspective is the question that was posed to me by someone recently: if someone plans on playing professional sports soon, why does playing close to home seem to matter? I never really gave it much consideration in the past, but it was a sort of question that loomed large – especially for basketball and baseball players who might be playing far away from home either the summer after high school or the year after high school.

I think the answer probably is not as clear cut. For a baseball player, the reality is that it will be a lot like doing summer camps and visits across the country is – they will be gone for stretches of the summer, but home in August. In the case of a baseball player that might extend to September, but it is not them leaving across the country for nine or more months at a time.

As I considered the question, the answer sort of just floated around in the answer to why some players choose one program over another – the family feel.

When I graduated high school, I went to Marine Corps boot camp 10 days later. I had been 18 years old for a whopping four days and there I was on a bus to Portland to catch a plane to San Diego. No matter how I remember those moments, I was build different.

But when I had children of my own, the time we spent together seemed to be a lifetime in the moment – and yet in retrospect, it was so brief. One lives in Montana and the other in Washington, DC. We don’t get to see each other as often as we would like and it reminds me that I was lucky – both stayed near me for four or more years after high school and I got plenty of time to hang out with them. Sometimes we hurry ourselves so much that we forget to enjoy the little moments that we have with each other.

The reason most recruits value a family-like culture with a program is because that is something that they have in one way or another ‘back home’ and they want to have that feeling when they get to college. Some just want to get those few extra years around the people they love. Careers will be there soon enough, and those choices will be made for them. Some just want to spend a few extra years around mom and dad.

Next month during the bye week, my two sons and I are all flying into Oakland to catch a game at the Oakland Coliseum during the last homestand ever. It is a moment shaped by their childhood and mine. A moment when we get a chance to share some moments together. When I think of that and then wonder why Jonah Williams wants to be closer to his family – it makes a lot more sense.

TAKE TWO:

After multiple years where the Ducks rarely saw a flip from a commitment that they truly wanted to keep the last few weeks have seemed a bit odd or even humbling. None of the players Oregon lost to flips were players that the staff was ‘okay’ letting go elsewhere. By that I mean that the staff wanted them to stay committed. That includes wide receiver Isaiah Mozee.

Are there extenuating circumstances that explain each of the decommitments? In two cases yes. A girlfriend and a father. Then there were the recruits Oregon really wanted to get into the fold – like Aaron Dunn and Noah Mikhail – who went elsewhere.

What gives? The answer is twofold. The Ducks in this cycle are shooting for ‘big stars’ only in a way they have not done in years past. There is no real room for project players (though that is dependent upon how the staff fills out the 105-man roster moving forward). That means that every major program in the nation is working against Oregon on every single recruit that the Ducks are targeting.

When Oregon was in the Pac-12, only one conference foe really presented any ‘challenge’ to Oregon on the recruiting trail – USC. As a member of the the Big-10? The Ducks now have to contend with not just USC, but Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. If the Ducks want to recruit Texas? They have to contend with a Longhorn team that is now part of the SEC and the rest of the Longhorns’ SEC rivals.

When the landscape changed on the field, it also changed on the recruiting trail. Those battles are going top be tougher than ever now and there will be more misses on the trail than years past. Elite depth will create that dilemma. The bigger problem Oregon faces is that – unlike say Georgia, or Ohio State, Michigan, and other schools, the Ducks do not have a lot of elite talent in their backyard so they have to continue recruiting nationally.

These are all challenges which have become more prominent as the Ducks start to stack elite talent up and down the roster. The good news is that Oregon has three players currently rated as 6.1 five-star prospects and have two others rated 6.0 by Rivals. One of those – Dallas Wilson – has been on the cusp of five-star status for a while and could see himself in that territory when final rankings come out later this cycle.

Oregon also has the highest average star rating (4.07) of any team rated inside the top 20 with the fewest commits (14) of those teams. Did the losses sting? Absolutely, but the staff has done a tremendous job with what they wanted to accomplish for the most part.

Finally, I think that as the season progresses, we are going to see a lot of things change in the recruiting world. After all, a month ago, no one would have thought that Julian Lewis – who has been committed to USC for almost a year – would be thought to be considering a decommitment, but that is now a distinct possibility.

When December rolls around, I expect Oregon to be in great shape once again.