Oregon Ducks named biggest winner of summer recruiting

Cue the Dan Lanning cigar GIF.

Following a spring in which naysayers mocked the Oregon Ducks for a handful of recruiting misses, On3 has named Oregon the biggest winners of summer recruiting.

In the months of June, July and August, Oregon has surged from outside the top-30 to the nation's No. 7 program - No. 1, however, in terms of "rating per commit."

During that span, the Ducks added 11 of their 17 commitments, including five of their top six pledges - five-star offensive tackle Immanuel Iheanacho, five-star edge-rusher Anthony "Tank" Jones, five-star safety Jett Washington, five-star defensive back Davon Benjamin and elite athlete Jalen Lott.

Two of those commitments, Iheanacho and Jones, committed on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show," one of the most-watched sports programs in the country.

As it currently stands, Oregon is tied for first in five-star commitments (5) with Alabama and has a near full-point edge in "average rating per commit" over No. 2 LSU (94.39 to 93.48).

Oregon's average rating mark is more than two full points higher than No. 4 Notre Dame. To put that gap into perspective, a 1.65-point gap separates Notre Dame from No. 15  Clemson (92.35 to 90.71)

In all, the results are a far cry from Oregon's spring run, in which they finished as an also ran for five-star quarterbacks Jared Curtis (Georgia) and Ryder Lyons (BYU) and five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell (Miami). 

That mini-drought culminated with the decommitment of five-star edge-rusher Richard Wesley, who had committed to the Ducks just 17 days prior with a pool jump with Lanning.

When Wesley reopened his recruitment, many mocked Oregon and Lanning for losing a step.

Perhaps Oregon has run out of NIL money? Or maybe Lanning and the coaching staff had suddenly lost their touch?

Turns out, the Ducks were just heating up.