De’Anthony Thomas, Marcus Mariota and the Budda Baker what-if: Oregon Recruiting Rewind

Oregon has yet to win a national title, but the Ducks have become a legitimate national brand in the past 20 years thanks in part to their ability to land some of the most exciting prospects on the recruiting trail.

Since 2000, Oregon has finished in the final Top 25 of the AP poll 15 times and in the top 10 nine times. It’s quite a turn for a school that had previously finished in the top 10 only once. A big reason for that change has been Phil Knight and Nike’s commitment to the program as well as a bunch of coaches who established a cutting-edge identity for the Ducks.

Recruits all over the country have taken note.

As June official visits begin this month, The Athletic is taking a look at how Power 5 programs have recruited over the years. Let’s examine Oregon, a school that has reeled in a bunch of blue-chippers in recent years as the program’s profile has continued to grow.

Best recruit, pre-internet rankings: Joey Harrington, QB

Oregon has produced a handful of Pro Football Hall of Famers — quarterback Dan Fouts, linebacker Dave Wilcox and offensive lineman Gary Zimmerman are among the program’s legends — but it was Harrington who ushered the Ducks into the limelight.

The school made national headlines when it put Harrington, its budding star quarterback, on a billboard in New York City before the 2001 season. “Joey Heisman” and his teammates backed up the hype, and the Portland, Ore., native made a return trip to Manhattan months later as a Heisman Trophy finalist, the first in Ducks history. Harrington led Oregon to its first 11-win season, and the Ducks ended the year ranked No. 2 in the polls.

In the three seasons before Harrington got onto the field at Oregon, the Ducks were never ranked and went a combined 11-13 in Pac-10 play. In his three seasons, Oregon finished No. 19, No. 7 and No. 2 and was a combined 20-4 in the league.

Best recruit, modern era: De’Anthony Thomas, RB

Thomas was in the same 2011 recruiting class as Marcus Mariota, the only player in program history to win a Heisman Trophy, but it was the blazing-fast kid who grew up just 10 minutes from USC’s campus who generated the most signing day buzz.

The 5-foot-9, 169-pound Thomas was a legend in Los Angeles, nicknamed “The Black Mamba” by Snoop Dogg, who had coached him in the Snoop Youth Football League. And Thomas was viewed as a lock for USC.

“He was the ringleader of that class,” Lane Kiffin, USC’s coach from 2010 through 2013, told The Athletic a few years ago. “I mean, he was always wearing USC stuff. He was recruiting other kids to come to USC. Like, the last one to worry about would have been him.”

But Thomas, ranked as Rivals’ No. 1 cornerback recruit in the nation, was intrigued by Chip Kelly’s offensive system and the way the coach used speed. At the time, Oregon had done pretty well in Southern California but never beat USC for a prospect quite like Thomas. And Kelly’s team had clobbered the Trojans on the field in recent years, scoring a combined 100 points in consecutive wins in 2009 and 2010. A visit to Eugene on the final recruiting weekend was the capper for Thomas.

“We actually created the ‘De’Anthony Thomas Rule’ after that year,” Kiffin said. “Some guys don’t like to let committed guys take trips. We do it, but we don’t let commits take trips that last weekend because he goes dead after that weekend. He went up there, and then it was dead.”

Oregon’s coaches and players were in awe the first time Thomas touched the ball for the Ducks.

“It was an outside zone. He saw a hole, cut vertically, and we were all like, ‘Holy crap!’ And he was gone,” former Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said. “It was like one of those Reggie Bush, one-cut and gone type runs.”

Thomas enjoyed a dazzling career, scoring 46 touchdowns in three seasons, averaging 7.8 yards per carry and posting almost 3,200 yards from scrimmage before leaving as a fourth-round pick to the Chiefs in the 2014 draft.

Most influential recruit: Marcus Mariota, QB

Kelly offered Mariota late in his junior year of high school in Hawaii even though he didn’t become the starting quarterback until his senior season at St. Louis School.

In three seasons with the Ducks, Mariota led Oregon to a 36-5 record and had a remarkable 105-to-14 TD-to-INT ratio. He passed for almost 11,000 yards and ran for nearly 2,300 more, scoring a total of 31 touchdowns. He became the first Duck to win the Heisman Trophy and carried Oregon to the national title game in 2014. One year later, the school unveiled the 30,000-square-foot Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center.

“He was so special,” Helfrich said. “You combined his work ethic with his ability, and then the thing that he never got enough credit for was the type of competitor he was. You saw how badly he wanted to win every rep in practice — every drill. And that carried over to other parts of his life. He was a great student, great teammate, and that permeated to the rest of the team. He’s a legend for sure.”

Biggest bust: Canton Kaumatule, DL

I cringe when we use the term “bust” for recruits, but the Ducks have no doubt had their share of disappointments. Among the biggest was Kaumatule, a five-star prospect in the Class of 2015. In fairness, his career also was derailed by a series of concussions, as he detailed to The Athletic a few years ago.

Another five-star signee, Lache Seastrunk, also fizzled out in Eugene although he later became a first-team All-Big 12 running back at Baylor.

Best developmental story: Justin Herbert, QB

Oregon has hit the jackpot on more than its share of under-the-radar prospects — Mariota and defensive lineman DeForest Buckner stand out — but we’ll go with Herbert, who grew up 1 mile from Autzen Stadium and was not on any other Power 5 program’s radar.

Herbert played on the junior varsity squad as a sophomore at Sheldon High School and had his junior season cut short after two games due to a leg injury. In early October of Herbert’s senior year, Nevada got word there was an intriguing quarterback blossoming right in Oregon’s backyard. That pushed the Ducks to make a move and offer the hometown kid who was blessed with some jaw-dropping physical tools.

During his four years at Oregon, he threw for 10,541 yards with 95 touchdowns and only 23 interceptions. In 2019, his final season, he led the Ducks to a Pac-12 title and a No. 5 final ranking. The next spring, he became the No. 6 pick in the draft.

Not bad for a kid who acknowledged he was once too nervous to take part in any of Kelly’s football camps at Oregon when he was younger.

The one who got away: Budda Baker, DB

The all-everything athlete from the Seattle area was poised to be another big local loss for Washington, but then Baker, the highest-ranked recruit in the Northwest in the Class of 2014,  flipped from the Ducks to the Huskies on the eve of national signing day.

Baker had committed to Oregon right after taking an official visit to Eugene three months earlier and was expected to play wide receiver for the Ducks. But he proved to be the first big recruiting win for the Huskies’ new coach, Chris Petersen, and was a key player on Washington’s 2016 College Football Playoff team.

While the Huskies flourished with Baker, Oregon stumbled during his three seasons in college, going from 13 wins to nine to four. He also helped Washington snap a 12-game losing streak to Oregon in 2016 with a 70-21 win that was sparked by a Baker interception on the game’s first play.

Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories looking back at recruiting superlatives for select Power 5 programs. The stories can be found here. 

(Top photo of De’Anthony Thomas: Kevin Casey / Getty Images)