The 2024 season is history. Now, with a lengthy off-season and an upcoming new season, everyone’s attention is focused on the portal. Coming fresh off of a national day, schools are full enough on their 2025 roster decor. Now it’s time to evaluate their strength in comparison to each other to predict the blue-chip teams brewing underneath. However, Oregon and the other top-tier schools have very little surprise left on their board, as they have already signed all their principal faces of the 2025 class back in December.

However, Michigan, the only school that made a slight impact on the February signing day, secured five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood on Wednesday. Thanks to their lofty $1 million NIL backup. But does that mean they are worth the hype they are getting?

Oregon tops Michigan in the blue-chip recruitment race 

Well, it’s pretty understandable where the urge behind Sherrone Moore’s aggressive push in the 2025 class comes from. He has been widely criticized for sleeping on the past year’s portal and ended up dealing with a faulty QB room later. As a supreme damage control, Moore got some luck as his Bryce Underwood push turned out fruitful after much back and forth. Fellow offensive tackle Andrew Babalola and quarterback Bryce Underwood add to the five-star commitments Moore was able to swoop in.

Moore also gained the commitment of IMG Academy linebacker Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng. No wonder that the Maize and Blue capped off the signing day with a ton of momentum. The effort didn’t go unnoticed as ESPN gave them their flowers, dubbing the biggest recruitment winner of the entire cycle.

But guess what? It’s still Oregon and Dan Lanning for ON3. Overall, the Ducks stand at No. 4 in ON3’s recruitment rank and No. 3 in ESPN’s list, but when it narrows down to four and five-star recruits, the Ducks come to the top, followed by Georgia and Alabama. They have scored 95 percent in regard to landing blue-chip recruits for the year running. It’s never a surprise, as Lanning has been an OG in the recruitment race.

Now, you might immediately turn to the stereotype of Nike and its founder, Phil Knight, bearing most of the NIL backing of the Big 10 giant, Lanning, you can’t miss out on. Sure, Nike and its owner have made a major contribution to the Ducks’ recruitment success. Still, it takes a lot of intelligence and effort to communicate, organize, and execute the entire process. It is safe to say that Lanning has done it better than anybody else in his rank, and hence comes the sweet relish of the success.

But despite winning it all regarding the premium recruits, Lanning is sitting back and enjoying the process without making it a strictly no-joke matter.

Dan Lanning seems a little laid back yet poised in his 2025 roster

Ducks pulled in the nation’s No. 4 ranked recruiting class, highlighted by the No. 1 wide receiver in the country, Dakorien Moore, and two five-star defenders in cornerback Na’eem Offord and safety Trey McNutt. Oh, how can we forget about the massive offensive linemen Ziyare Addison and Douglas Utu? The coach feels a sense of relief as the 2025 roster is solidified.

Lanning has every reason to rejoice in what he has done with the 2025 roster-making since early December. It’s true that the Duck’s head coach couldn’t finish their season as expected, which is obvious for an undefeated playoff team, but he is making sure that the next year doesn’t slip out of his hand. However, he is ensuring he doesn’t overdo it to the point of fatigue. He showcased a very subtle yet firm confidence heading to the decisive off-season.

“It’s fun. It’s always great to be able to add high-quality people that are also high-quality players to your program,” Lanning told Duck Insider. “Early on we were certainly talking about a vision that we had. Now, it’s kind of ‘the proof is in the pudding’—this’ is what you’re going to be able to do when you come in here. Compete with the best of the best and play for some of the best of the best, and become the best version of yourself.” Lanning oozed out assurance, noting that they are a lucrative catch for the talents.

We will observe how the season begins for all the A-list players, including Michigan and Oregon, who have all their weapons on the shelf.