If there’s an early winner on National Signing Day, it’s the Oregon Ducks, who just managed to flip five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord and five-star quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele on Wednesday, adding two major pieces to an already stellar 2025 recruiting class.
How Oregon football flipped two five-star recruits on early National Signing Day
If there’s an early winner on National Signing Day, it’s the Ducks.
Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images
Rohan Chakravarthi is the site manager at Bucky’s 5th Quarter, contributes to Niners Nation and covers high school recruiting for SBNation.com.
Offord, the No. 4 recruit and the top cornerback in the Class of 2025 according to ESPN, had been committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes since February, but it was clear that this recruitment was going to go down to the wire with a number of blue-blood programs after the five-star defensive back.
In the summer, Offord took official visits to Ohio State, Auburn, Alabama and Oregon, which seemed to be the top contenders for the five-star heading into the fall. Offord had long been linked to the Tigers, having been the top recruit in the state of Alabama, but had a major surprise in store on Wednesday by flipping to head coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks.
A 6’1”, 185-pound cornerback, Offord has great length for his size and has the ideal frame to play the position, excelling with high-end athleticism and reaction speed. Not only can Offord play well in man coverage, but the cornerback has good ball skills to match his athleticism, playing at Parker High School in Alabama.
Oregon made sense as a cornerback destination, as they’ll lose five corners this offseason, including their top three options, leaving ample opportunities available for younger players to take.
The Ducks already signed five-star cornerback Brandon Finney and four-star cornerback Dorian Brew to their 2025 recruiting class, and Offord will now come in as the headliner for what is shaping up to be the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation at the moment.
On the offensive side, the Ducks flipped five-star quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele from the Cal Bears on National Signing Day as well, getting them a second signal-caller in the 2025 class.
The Ducks had already landed a commitment from quarterback Akili Smith Jr., who had verbally pledged to the program back in July of 2023, but were looking for a second signal-caller, which is where Sagapolutele entered the fold.
The five-star quarterback had been committed to Cal since July after taking an official visit in the summer, but his recruitment really started to grow afterward, with schools such as Georgia and Oregon offering and getting official visits of their own in November.
At the end of the day, the Hawaii native stayed on the West Coast, but flipped to Oregon, joining a quarterback room loaded with young talent.
The Ducks already have former five-star quarterback Dante Moore, who transferred in last offseason with the hopes of taking over the reins when Dillon Gabriel leaves this offseason.
They also brought in four-star quarterback Austin Novosad as a part of their 2024 class, and now have two quarterbacks in the 2025 class with Smith Jr. and Sagapolutele in the fold.
Both Sagapolutele and Offord will contribute to one of the best recruiting classes in the country, bumping Oregon’s five-star total to six with the two newcomers, cornerback Brandon Finney, safety Trey McNutt and wide receivers Dakorien Moore and Dallas Wilson.
