Larry Moon III, who received a scholarship offer, is very interested in Oregon.
Oregon Co-Defensive Coordinator Chris Hampton was back east last week attending a high school football camp, trying to make evaluations on prospects the Ducks have an interest in. One player at the camp who caught his eye was defensive back Larry Moon III, and Hampton and the Ducks issued an offer.
Moon spoke with DuckTerritory.com about the offer from Oregon and his overall recruitment moving forward.
“Coach Hampton gave me the offer after my drills,” said Moon. It means a lot because Oregon is a West Coast offer. My interest in Oregon is good because they are changing into a defensive school.”
Oregon OF Bryce Boettcher named ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner
A day after being named a finalist, Bryce Boettcher has been named the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner for his defensive display in center field.
Oregon Ducks centerfielder Bryce Boettcher was awarded the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove on Wednesday morning, just a day after making the nominees list.
Boettcher, a senior, made some outstanding plays this year for the Ducks, patrolling center field, and has now been rewarded for his play.
Boettcher finished the season with a 1.000 fielding percentage, committing zero errors in 54 games. The two-sport athlete had six assists, one shy of the school record for an outfielder, with 136 putouts.
He made 54 starts in center field, with Oregon finishing 36-18 record in those starts. Boettcher was named an honorable All-Pac-12 team member and was also named to the Pac-12 Conference All-Defensive Team in May.
“He’s a guy that has a huge heart,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said about Boettcher following a win over Lafayette in February. “(The) University of Oregon is everything to him, he lives and breathes for this athletic department and the university. He’s so proud to be apart of this university, to see him be able to have success on a baseball field is just one of the biggest joys of mine so far in the early season because he’s such a great kid.”
Boettcher’s Gold Glove marks the second consecutive season Oregon featured the award winner. He is the second Oregon outfielder to win a gold glove, joining Austin Grebeck in 2016. Oregon has had a finalist for a gold glove in six of the last 10 seasons, with two coming in 2023.
Several of the nation’s best college football programs entered the offseason looking for quality over quantity in the transfer portal. A handful of consensus top-25 teams like Ohio State, Tennessee and LSU were selective in the portal and added fewer than 10 transfers. Preseason top-five squads like Georgia and Alabama also had the luxury of picking and choosing in the portal and filled needs with lean transfer hauls.
The Tigers and Volunteers’ portal classes don’t pop off the page, checking in at No. 43 and No. 32 in the transfer class rankings, respectively. However, they skyrocket into the top 10 classes when sorted by average rating per commit. The Buckeyes and Bulldogs also jump in the pound-for-pound method, usurping teams like Colorado (42 commits) and Texas A&M (28), whose rankings are skewed by large commitment numbers.
Some schools managed to add both quantity and quality this offseason. Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss landed at No. 1 in the overall portal class ranking and cracked the top 15 in average rating per commit.
There’s quantity and quality in Ole Miss’ portal class, which tops the overall rankings. The Rebels have the second-largest class in the SEC at 24 players and landed the top-ranked defensive lineman Walter Nolen and second-ranked edge Princely Umanmielen.
Texas A&M sits No. 4 in the overall transfer rankings thanks to a whopping 28 commits, the most in the SEC. Six of those players rank inside the top 150.
Notre Dame makes the second-biggest jump of any team on this list, going from No. 42 in the overall ranking to No. 12 in the pound-for-pound metric. Duke stars quarterback Riley Leonard (No. 44) and edge RJ Oben (No. 42) headline the Irish’s class.
Missouri entered the offseason looking to bolster its offensive line and secondary. It came out of the portal with Cayden Green, the No. 2 offensive tackle and Toriano Pride, the No. 9 cornerback.
Miami’s portal class landed at No. 10 in both our overall and pound-for-pound rankings. Cam Ward, the No. 4 quarterback, is a Heisman Trophy candidate and one of the most important figures in college football this season. The Hurricanes added plenty of talent around him in the portal, too. Mario Cristobal and Co. signed four-star running back Damien Martinez from Oregon State and four-star wide receiver Sam Brown from Houston. Louisville edge Tyler Baron headlines three four-star defenders to pledge to the Hurricanes.
It was a lean transfer portal haul for an LSU, but a good one. The Tigers make the biggest jump of any team in these rankings, going from No. 43 in the overall ranking to No. 9 in the pound-for-pound metric. Texas A&M safety Jardin Gilbert is the highest-rated of the bunch at No. 27 overall. Liberty wide receiver CJ Daniels gives the Tigers a second transfer in the top 50 at No. 45 overall.
