While Oregon will likely sign a top-20 recruit class when the dust settles on national signing day, many Duck fans will be left pondering a particularly gnawing hypothetical nonetheless.
Late Monday night, news broke that five-star safety Shaq Thompson had switched his verbal commitment from Cal to Washington. Oregon was Thompson’s other finalist, and the Ducks were a strong contender to land Thompson’s commitment. @@http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/7522936/shaq-thompson-changes-commitment-california-golden-bears-washington-huskies@@
In fact, Oregon was Thompson’s leader for a brief period of time. Last week, Thompson reportedly met with five-star jumbo athlete Arik Armstead — the two recruits are friends, and both live in the Sacramento, Calif. area — and formed a pact to play together. According to ESPN.com’s Greg Biggins, Thompson even bought an Oregon hat upon which he inscribed his initials. @@http://oregon.scout.com/a.z?s=128&p=9&c=4&yr=2012@@
But Thompson soon changed his mind, taking an unofficial visit to Seattle over the weekend and deciding to commit to the Huskies. Thompson cited the Huskies coaching staff (former Cal coaches Tosh Lupoi and Eric Kiesau are now on the Washington staff) as one reason for his decision. @@http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/lupoi_tosh00.html@@ @@http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/kiesau_eric00.html@@
“It was three main things for me,” Thompson said, according to ESPN. “Washington is where my heart was at, they have the second-best graduation rate in the Pac-12, and I love the coaching staff. I’m a Husky. That’s all I can say.”