Oregon Recruiting Flurry Grabs a California RB and Two Florida Athletes
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
Oregon’s first recruiting class under new head coach Willie Taggart is starting to take shape. The Ducks have added seven commits in the month of January hauling in three since Thursday. The three player haul includes California three-star running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio and Florida athletes Bruce Judson and Demetri Burch.
Habibi-Likio committed to the Ducks on Thursday after a solid senior season with St. Francis High School. The 6-1, 211 pound, back scampered for 805 yards off 161 carries with 11 scores and caught seven passes for 100 yards in the Lancers offense. The Mountain View area product committed to Oregon over offers from USC, Iowa State, Boise State, Hawaii, BYU, Central Florida, Cal, New Mexico, and Washington State, to name a few.
Bruce Judson’s commitment to Oregon is the second time Taggart has landed a verbal from the Cocoa High School standout. Judson helped his Tigers’ squad to a 12-1 record in 2016 lining up at quarterback. The 5-9, 184 pound, speedster threw for 1,163 yards off 62-of-94 passing with 16 scores against four picks and was the second leading rusher on the squad with 866 yards off 130 carries with 10 more touchdowns on the board. Judson was pushing 40 offers when he flipped from South Florida, Taggart’s old team, to Oregon. The long list of schools offering the four-star recruit included Auburn, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Florida State, Georgia, Clemson, Pitt, and Miami.
Demetri Burch is another flip from USF for Taggart. The 5-11.5, 181 pound, athlete also played out of position during his senior year playing quarterback for Apopka High School. Complete season stats were not posted for Burch, but he did rush for 302 yards off 38 carries with seven touchdowns in four games. Burch had offers from Kentucky, West Virginia, Toledo, Marshall, and Louisville.
247Sports rates Oregon’s 2017 class No. 23 in the nation, No. 5 in the Pac-12. Rivals rates the class No. 21 with eight four-star recruits. The four other January commits includes Darrian Felix, Braxton Burmeister, Isaac Slade-Matautia, and Austin Faoliu. Burmeister and Slade-Matautia are rated as four-star recruits.
Oregon Ducks 2017 Verbal Commitment List (19)
CB Thomas Graham, 5-11, 175, Rancho Cucamonga HS, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
CB/ATH Jaylon Redd, 5-9, 180, Rancho Cucamonga HS, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
LB Sampson Niu, 6-1, 217, Madison, San Diego, CA
LB Isaac Slade-Matautia, 6-0.5, 206, Kaiser HS, Honolulu, HI
DT Popo Aumavae, 6-4, 315, St. Mary’s HS, Stockton, CA
DT Austin Faoliu, 6-3, 285, Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA
DT Rutger Reitmaier, 6-3, 270, Lipscomb Academy, Nashville, TN
DT Jordon Scott, 6-1, 345, Pinellas Park HS, Largo, FL
OT Alex Forsyth, 6-5, 280, West Linn HS, West Linn, OR
RB Darrian Felix, 5-11, 194, Fort Myers HS, Fort Myers, FL
RB Cyrus Habibi-Likio, 6-1, 211, St. Francis, Mountain View, CA
RB CJ Verdell, 5-9, 195, Mater Dei HS, Chula Vista, CA
QB Braxton Burmeister, 6-0.5, 196, La Jolla Country, La Jolla, CA
WR Johnny Johnson III, Chandler HS, Chandler, AZ
ATH Demetri Burch, 5-11.5, 181, Apopka HS, Apopka, FL
ATH Bruce Judson, 5-9, 184, Cocao HS, Cocoa, FL
ATH Darrian McNeal, 5-9, 160, Armwood HS, Seffner, FL
ATH Nick Pickett, 6-2, 185, Salesian HS, Los Angeles, CA
K Adam Stack, 6-2, 175, Kamehameha, Honolulu, HI
Photo credit: usatodayhss.com; No. 4 Bruce Judson stiff arms a defender.