College Football Recruiting: Oregon Ducks Are Dream School For Juwaan Williams

The Oregon Ducks have built themselves into a Pac 12 power by building a national college football recruiting base that brings in the top talent from all over the country. So it shouldn’t be too terribly surprising to see the Ducks in the running for Juwaan Walker, a three-star wide receiver out of the state of Georgia. But as it turns out, much of the Ducks’ recruitment work may have been done long ago.

Walker, a 6’1″, 180-pound athlete currently has around 20 offers from schools for their 2013 recruiting class. He has made it clear that he would prefer to stay down south, close to home, with just two exceptions: Notre Dame and Oregon. With the announcement of an official visit to Eugene in October, it makes it seem like the Ducks are a lock to make Williams’ top five, which he says he is ready to announce in the next two to three weeks.

Oregon was able to tempt Williams out of the south because of their recent history of success. Williams said that every young football player has a team that they dream of playing for as a kid, and for him that school was Oregon. He’s said that he looks forward to finally getting to set foot on campus to see if his dream may fit what’s best for his future reality.

Helping Oregon’s case is their secondary coach, John Neal, whose experience in recruiting the south has helped Chip Kelly to expand his recruitment bed. Neal has been building a strong relationship with Williams, which the young receiver describes as “great”, which has helped Williams feel more comfortable leaving the familiar confines of the south. Neal acting as a sympathetic ear who understands life in the south can be a huge asset in Oregon’s recruitment of Williams.

The leader contenders in the recruitment for Williams include Clemson, South Carolina, and Florida State in the south among countless others. Oregon has found its way into that mix because of its appeal to a young Juwaan Williams and will try and make the reality close enough to his expectations to draw the recruit out west. Whether or not they’ll succeed will be determined when Williams visits October 7, and the Oregon 2013 recruiting class could gain a valuable addition.