Big Ten move played key role in Oregon flip for former USC commit
The Big Ten move has immediately helped the Oregon Ducks.
Earlier this week, Gardena (Calif.) Junipero Serra corner Dakoda Fields flipped his commitment from USC to Oregon. A 4-star defensive back and a top-100 prospect in the industry-generated 247 Composite, Fields was a huge piece of the defensive class Lincoln Riley was putting together at USC.
Instead, he’ll begin his career in the Oregon secondary. The flip, however, didn’t change what conference Fields would begin his career in, and that was apparently important.
Fields told Ducks Digest’s Max Torres that “once they (Oregon) moved to the Big Ten, that was the green light for me.”
Yesterday I asked 2024 Gardena (Calif.) Serra CB Dakoda Fields why now was the right time for him to commit to Oregon:
“A big role was actually the Big Ten. I was waiting on that for a long time. I didn’t want them to stay in the Pac-12 because I wanted to play against the best… pic.twitter.com/5rUAnx1tKz
— Max Torres (@mtorressports) August 12, 2023
From the Trojans’ perspective, this is exactly the scenario USC wanted to avoid. In moving to the Big Ten and initially leaving behind Oregon, USC was said to have hoped to become a destination for West Coast recruits who wanted to play in the Big Ten.
Fields’ comments have to be music to Dan Lanning’s ears, though. Oregon and USC have been going head-to-head on the recruiting trail for years. Oregon has been winning plenty of battles in the state of California for elite prospects, and that doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon.
Lanning has frequently said the Ducks have the resources, facilities, and brand recognition to compete for any recruit in America. But in a watered-down Pac-12, there were concerns about the Ducks’ ability to continue pulling elite prospects at the same level.
Unfortunately for USC, in the Big Ten, those concerns are all but gone.