Oregon Ducks eye new heights on recruiting trail under Dan Lanning, not to mention the gridiron

When the dust settled six months ago on the first Wednesday of February, Oregon and head coach Dan Lanning were in an enviable position, atop the new-look Big Ten recruiting rankings and No. 3 nationally .

Oregon achieved a program-high rating on 247Sports, earning 289.30 points after signing 27 recruits to national letters of intent.

Six months later and just weeks before the Ducks begin their Big Ten tenure, Oregon is trailing that pace by nearly 30 points -- with almost half as many commits.

Oregon is currently ranked No. 9 nationally for the 2025 recruiting class, with just 14 pledges so far, but there's still plenty of heavy lifting to do . The Ducks are poised not just for a big debut season in the Big Ten, as they open the season ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25 , but potentially for landing a dream recruiting class .

Bolstered by a pair of five-star players -- the No. 1 wide receiver Dakorien Moore and the nation's top safety, Trey McNutt -- Oregon remains in the top 10 despite being the only school in that group with fewer than 20 commits. As it stands, they hold the No. 2 class in the Big Ten, trailing only Ohio State , which also tops the national rankings.

The Ducks are far from finished. How high could this class go? If a few things break their way, they could reach the top by February.

Much will depend on retaining their current class, particularly Moore (from Texas ) and McNutt (from Ohio ). If they can hold on to those two, they'll remain in the running.

Keeping up momentum on the field would help. Beating No. 2 Ohio State when the Buckeyes come to Eugene in October would be an incredible boon. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel winning the Heisman Trophy, which he is currently favored to do, would be even better.

There's a chance Oregon's first season in the Big Ten mirrors Texas A&M's first season in the SEC in 2012, marked by big national wins and a Heisman Trophy winner (Johnny Manziel). The sky could be the limit for what the Ducks achieve in recruiting and a pie-in-the-sky, five-star-loaded dream class may yet become a reality.

247Sports is the industry leader in college football recruiting coverage at both the national and local level. For real-time updates, breaking news and analysis, join today ! For an inside look at more on Oregon's potential dream class, check out the VIP post on Duck Territory's The Duck Pond message board .