It was predictable that Seth Green, perhaps the state’s best prep football player, announced at East Ridge High School this morning his college choice is Oregon. What the junior quarterback may not realize is he might one day change his mind and play for the Golden Gophers.
Green told Sports Headliners in late August he was leaning toward Oregon with the Gophers also being considered. The Ducks are among college football’s elite programs and their offense is a fit for Green who is the No. 8 dual-threat quarterback in the country for the class of 2016, according to Rivals.com.
A program like Oregon can be selective in recruiting. Oregon likely will only recruit a couple of quarterbacks at most for its 2016 freshman class and Green made sure he will be one of them by announcing for the Ducks today (earlier this year they offered him a scholarship).
But a lot can happen between now and February of 2016 when Green and other high school seniors can sign National Letters of Intent binding them to college programs. What Green did this morning was verbally commit to the Ducks, and they reserved a scholarship for the talented young man who has visited Eugene a couple of times.
Beyond that, Green’s situation—like any high school player who makes a verbal commitment—remains fluid. In the more than 15 months between now and 2016 National Signing Day there could be developments that change Green’s outlook, perhaps even in the Gophers’ favor.
“That’s an eternity (of time). There’s so many things that can happen, and a verbal means nothing,” said Ray Hitchcock.
Hitchcock, the former Gophers center and now an assistant coach at Cretin-Derham Hall High School, has seen Green play against the Raiders. “He’s a top quarterback,” Hitchcock told Sports Headliners. “He has the skill set that you are looking for—a very strong arm (and) understands the defenses that he is looking at.”
The Ducks’ program committed NCAA recruiting violations awhile ago and was placed on three years probation in 2013. That probationary period is scheduled to end on June 25, 2016. What if the NCAA found more problems at Oregon in the near future? Those problems and possible NCAA penalties such as a bowl ban could impact the commitment of high school players to the school?
Then there is the possibility of the Gophers’ winning profile increasing even further and Minnesota becoming a more attractive choice for Green. If the Gophers become contenders in the Big Ten Conference West Division, nationally ranked and earn a trip or two to New Year’s Day bowl games between now and February 2016, it would impress recruits—perhaps including Green.
Certainly as a home town kid Green faces pressure to play for the Gophers and as recently as last Saturday he was interested enough in the program to attend the Minnesota-Northwestern game at TCF Bank Stadium. That pressure goes up a few notches if Minnesota becomes a legitimate top 15 national program. Sports Headliners asked Green back in August what might cause him to one day commit Minnesota?
“I don’t know—just sort of seeing how they keep building their program,” Green said. “They’re on a really great track right now and I like what they’re doing. They’re headed in the right direction with (head) coach (Jerry) Kill and (quarterbacks) coach (Jim) Zebrowski. So just seeing them continue to grow.”
Green was born in Minneapolis. His parents, Bryan and Teresa Green, both attended the University of Minnesota. Obviously for family it will one day be a lot easier to watch Green play in Dinkytown than on the West Coast.
Although Green announced for Oregon today, a lot of high school players have flipped their verbal commitments over the years. Green may not, but until Signing Day he still has college options and could eventually shoot down the Ducks if he wants.
“He could change his mind a couple of times,” Hitchcock said.