Oregon Recruit Decommits 17 Days After Filming Pool Video With Dan Lanning

The new era of college football recruiting hit home quickly for the Oregon Ducks this week. 

Head coach Dan Lanning, just two and a half weeks ago, filmed a cringe-worthy video with a prospective recruit, 5-star defensive EDGE player Richard Wesley. Wesley, from Sierra Canyon High School in California, is one of the most highly-regarded pass rushing prospects in the country for the 2026 recruiting class. Several recruiting services have him ranked in the top-20 overall, and in the top 5 in his position. 

Getting his commitment was viewed as a major coup for Oregon and Lanning. And it lasted all of 17 days. 

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Lanning and Wesley announced the EDGE player's commitment to Oregon earlier in May by jumping into a pool together and making the "O" hand sign. And now, just two and a half weeks later, Wesley's decommitted. 

Incredible.

ANN ARBOR, MI - NOVEMBER 2: Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning looks into the crowd after a game between University of Oregon and University of Michigan at Michigan Stadium on November 2, 2024 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

NIL Recruiting Era Comes Quickly For Dan Lanning And Oregon Ducks

This story is hardly unique; recruits commit and decommit every day. Especially in the era of NIL-based recruiting, where new offers can change the financial calculus for young high school players, and their families, extremely quickly.

And who knows, the way recruiting goes, Wesley could quite easily wind up back at Oregon by the time signing day comes around. 

But the lesson to be learned here is that coaches, and recruits too, should stop making videos, stop celebrating meaningless verbal commitments, stop doing cringe, choreographed content. Because none of it matters until these recruits actually sign on the dotted line. And sometimes not even then.

Take the "commitment," even make a brief, cryptic social media post, then let it sit until they inevitably decommit. Oregon hasn't always excelled at that. And it came back to bite them in embarrassing fashion this week.