Oregon Ducks face another shocking blow on recruiting trail as Dan Lanning and his staff lose another elite playmaker commit
The Oregon Ducks are fresh off of bringing in the number two overall ranked recruiting class for 2025 as it's looked like Dan Lanning has figured out how to dominate nationally in talent acquisition over the last few cycles. Unfortunately, all of the recruiting momentum for the Ducks and their 2026 class has been halted […]
The Oregon Ducks are fresh off of bringing in the number two overall ranked recruiting class for 2025 as it's looked like Dan Lanning has figured out how to dominate nationally in talent acquisition over the last few cycles. Unfortunately, all of the recruiting momentum for the Ducks and their 2026 class has been halted as they're facing yet another shocking blow, losing an elite playmaker's commit this week.
There were rumblings that this could actually happen immediately following the initial commitment, but when five star edge defender Richard Wesley made it known he was set to visit a number of other programs the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Richard Wesley backs out from Oregon commitment
Richard Wesley made it official on Tuesday evening as multiple sources around the country confirmed that he is no longer committed to Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks. But why does this matter? And who is this Richard Wesley player anyway?
After posting back to back seasons with about 50 tackles and double digit sacks as a freshman and sophomore in high school while exploding off the line at 6'5" 250 pounds it became abundantly clear that Richard Wesley was on pace to become a five star edge defender in the 2027 recruiting class. There was even a chance he could develop into the number one overall recruit in the nation for that year.
So, rather than wait an extra year Wesley and his camp decided it would be best for him to reclassify to the 2026 recruiting class in hopes to get to college and inevitably the NFL a bit faster given his early physical development. Every blue blood program raced to land his commitment this spring, and it looked like Oregon had won the battle, but not for too long.
Wesley's parents even mentioned immediately following Wesley's commitment that they "didn't have anything set in stone with Oregon as far as a full package" (implying the full compensation details were a bit unclear). The commitment to Oregon seemed a bit rushed and unclear from the start.
There's still a chance that Oregon could jump back in and end up landing Richard Wesley anyway, but this certainly hurts any momentum that Dan Lanning and his staff were hoping to gain or maintain on the recruiting trail. And not only that, Wesley wasn't the only recruit that decommitted this week. The team also lost Alai Kalaniuvalu (a top notch OL recruit) with his flip to BYU as well this week.
With Wesley's decommitment and Kalaniuvalu's flip to BYU, Oregon has quickly dropped off from having a potential top five class in the country to living somewhere outside the top 25 entirely. There's still plenty of time to rectify this issue, but there's a lot of work to do if Lanning and the Ducks are going to fully recover from losing Wesley and more.
Dan Lanning caught with egg on his face after Oregon recruiting target flips away from Ducks for second time
Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks have been wobbled on the recruiting trail. In short order this week, they watched both five-star pass-rusher Richard Wesley announce a bizarre visit schedule and then later decommit from Oregon, then saw Alai Kalaniuvalu flip from Oregon to BYU for the second time. Wesley's back and forth was enough […]
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If you want to look at what Oregon may be missing with Richard Wesley if they can't find a way to get his commitment back just check out his highlights in the video below. Dan Lanning and his staff need to get this fixed. Otherwise their 2026 recruiting class could be in a terrible position.
