Coach’s Take: St. John Bosco’s Jason Negro on Oregon Commit Dutch Horisk

Dan Lanning and the Ducks continue to reel in commitments for the 2026 recruiting class, with Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco EDGE Dutch Horisk announcing his pledge on Saturday. Horisk broke down his commitment on ScoopDuck, and now I’m continuing my series “Coach’s take”, where I a high school coach shares their thoughts on a particular player, typically an Oregon target or commit.

I most recently had the change to speak with St. John Bosco head coach Jason Negro, who’s one of the best head coaches in the entire country. He’s been at the helm of the Braves program since 2010 and most recently led the school to its third national championship in 2022.

Below you’ll find a transcription of my conversation with Negro discussing junior EDGE Dutch Horisk.

Question: If you could, give me your coach’s eval on Dutch Horisk.

Negro: “Well, as I have said, I think he’s one of the top edge rushers that we have ever had here at Bosco. We’ve played very few freshmen coming into their freshman year. Even Matayo (Uiagalelei), who is gonna to be one of Oregon’s top edge rushers probably this upcoming year—didn’t start for us as a freshman, where Dutch did in a few games. So that kind of tells you the company which he keeps. He’s one of the hardest workers that we have on our team in all three phases, whether it’s the weight room, in meetings, preparing for their opponents, or on the field in terms of his technique. He’s got a very versatile skill set as I think his greatest kind of attribute is he can play in space, he can play on the edge, he can stand up, put his hand in the ground, rush the quarterback. He can play in the run game. He’s a three down type guy. And I think that Oregon’s getting a really good one.”

Question: You had mentioned that he played a pretty good amount even as a freshman. Was there anything in particular that separated him or allowed him to that?

Negro: “I think his greatest contributor to that was the fact that he was super mature. His body was in a position to be able to do that as well. So he was, from a physical standpoint, he was obviously heavy enough, he was athletic enough, he was strong enough. For a freshman coming in to play at the varsity level against the competition which we’re playing, his physical attributes all contributed to that. But not only that, but he also had the maturity and the preparation was all there as well. So there was a lot of positives that were leaning in his favor that allowed him to do that.”

Question: He still has two years to go, so where do you see some of his areas for improvement or where he can grow?

Negro: “I think he has to continue to work on his versatility, and his ability to do different things is going to make him more valuable at the collegiate level. So if he can continue to work on his speed, his physicality, he has to continue to work on body transformation because every time you take a step up in the level of play you have to get bigger, faster and stronger. So he still has a lot of developing to do there. No one athlete is perfect and I know Dutch is the first one that would tell you that. So he’s got to continue to work on his technique part of this game, in terms of just defensive line play. So all of those things, if he’s able to trend in the in the right direction I think he’s going to go into Oregon as a freshman as college-ready as you possibly can, much like a lot of the kids do when they leave our program.”

Question: He’s going to be a big piece of that defensive line for you guys this year alongside Epi (Sitanilei, UCLA commit) and Max (Amasio). Tell me a bit about how he impacts a defense or what you see his role being for you guys.

Negro: “Well we always talk to our guys about having our best players be our hardest workers and the most committed to what we need to do in order to get better. And I think he kind of embodies all of those things that we’re looking for from a coaching standpoint, from a leadership standpoint. He’s one of the hardest workers in the in the in the gym when we’re in the weight room, and he’s one of the hardest guys in terms of preparation and logs the most minutes when you’re trying to prepare for an opponent on our film watching.

“ And then he’s one of the guys that never wants to come out of practice. He’s always looking to get as many reps as he possibly can. He never takes any shortcuts. And when your best players are the ones that do that, it just kind of sets the tone for the rest of not only the position, but the rest of that side of the ball in terms of the defense, and then also as the team. Myself as a head coach, I can always draw upon those guys’ efforts and their ways which way they prepare to use as an example for the rest of the team to kind of follow. Dutch completely checks all the boxes, and that’s one of the reasons why he’s getting an offer and has committed to one of the top three programs in the country right now going into the 24 season .”

Question: With recruiting coverage it’s so easy to for everyone to just focus on the offers and the stars. What can you tell me about Dutch the person and the young man that he is right now?

Negro: “He’s a very spiritual guy. I think that’s one thing that kind of stands out to me. He lives his daily life the way that you would want a young man to live it. He really makes good decisions. He’s responsible, he’s very capable and accomplished in the classroom as well. So when you look at all phases of his life, whether it’s his home life, his relationships—he’s got a girlfriend—so the relationship that he has with his girlfriend, the relationship that he has with his teammates and the other students around campus. He does it in a very humble approach. He’s not a very arrogant guy. He’s always quick to help other people out, and he’s a joy to talk to. He’s got a great personality. And again, a lot of these characteristics go back to the type of parents that he has and the family life that he leads. But he’s the type of guy that you want to kind of model your program after and I cannot wait to be able to work with him over the next two years.”

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