Catholic linebacker Dudley picks Oregon
With his family by his side, Catholic linebacker TJ Dudley announced on Monday that he would be signing with Oregon later this year. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The first official visit was the only one he needed.
Throughout the recruiting process, Catholic linebacker T.J. Dudley lamented about the COVID limitations and how he would commit to a program once he had the opportunity to visit. When those restrictions eased in June, Dudley’s first trip was to the University of Oregon.
On Monday, he called a halt to the recruiting process, choosing the Ducks over the other 27 offers he had, saying his recruiting visit on June 4 removed any doubts about where he wanted to play college football.
“The visit is what sold me,” he said. “Everyone up there was genuine. I’m going to be honest, it would have been a lot harder (to commit to the Ducks without a visit). Probably not. To commit somewhere where you haven’t been at all is kind of crazy. This (recruiting process) opening up and going to visit helped a lot.”
Dudley said he grew up an Oregon fan after watching receiver and return specialist De’Anthony Thomas (2011-12-13) in an Oregon uniform.
“The jerseys caught my attention,” he said, “but once I got to watch them play, that’s where my favorite player attended college, so after watching them play, that became my favorite team.”
But he also was smart enough to realize how much football meant in the Southeast, so every recruiting list started with Alabama and Auburn and soon included Clemson. As basketball season progressed, he tried to narrow the field while not having the benefit of recruiting visits and preoccupied with the success of a basketball team that reached the 3A finals.
“With the pandemic, it’s been hectic,” he told a recruiting site via Zoom. “It’s been crazy. Now that I’ve been able to visit a lot of places, it’s really helped to set in where I wanted to go.”
His initial group of finalists included Auburn, Alabama, Clemson, Oregon and Miami, which he later changed to Central Florida when Miami assistant Travis Williams, who was recruiting Dudley, joined Gus Malzahn’s staff in Orlando as the defensive coordinator.
“From when Coach Gus Malzahn and ‘T-Will’ was at Auburn, they pushed it, they showed me love and that they wanted me,” Dudley said. “When ‘T-Will’ went to Miami, I was the first person he called. Then when he went to UCF, I was the first person he hit up. It just showed how much he wanted me and that he cared. He’s a great guy. From meeting him in person and being around him, he’s a great person.”
Auburn never elevated themselves, even with a change in coaching staffs. Dudley later added Texas in place of Clemson, dropping the Tigers when it appeared to him that he wasn’t a recruiting priority. He kept Alabama in the top tier even though the feeling was similar.
“That’s what sealed the deal,” Dudley said. “Going up to Oregon on a visit really changed me and they were my top (choice), but it was still between those two (Alabama and Oregon). Once I found out some things, it was like ‘they (Alabama) don’t really want me, I’m a second option’ type of thing. I felt like I was in a holding pattern to where if a guy ahead of me doesn’t commit and he ends up going somewhere else, then they’ll try to come get me.”
After his visit to Oregon, he went to Central Florida the next week. A planned trip to Alabama on June 18 was postponed because of weather and Dudley added a visit to Texas this past weekend, never quite sold on putting the Longhorns on the same recruiting level with Alabama and Oregon.
“I just want to live in Texas, later on in life,” Dudley said. “(The recruiting visit) was awesome. The players were genuine and all the coaches, I could tell, really wanted me.”
He narrowed his finalists again, settling on Alabama, Oregon and Central Florida.
“I’m going to be honest, UCF was close, but nobody compared to how much attention and love (Oregon) showed me, just making me feel like I was important,” Dudley said.
And even though he didn’t take a June visit to Tuscaloosa, Dudley visited the campus on A-Day and sounds honored that he was recruited by the defending national champions.
“With Alabama, it was the same love from my sophomore year when Coach (Charles) Kelly hit me up,” he said. “It’s a big opportunity, of course, going to play for ‘THE’ Alabama. Ever since then, they stayed in contact with me.”
So has Oregon. And throughout the recruiting process, whenever Dudley was asked, he ranked the Ducks favorably because all of their coaches seemed genuinely interested in how things were going in T.J. Dudley’s world, not just those who might coach him later, such as head coach Mario Cristobal and linebackers coach Ken Wilson.
“It was definitely the communication,” Dudley said. “They kept up with me every day. I spoke with everybody, the whole entire staff. Then when I got there on a visit, it was everything I expected it to be. As soon as I got off the plane, I was expecting an Uber or something to pick me up, but it was Coach Cristobal and Coach Wilson right there. From then until the time I left, they were right there beside me.”
Dudley is the third Catholic player to announce a commitment to a Power Five school, joining defensive backs Kylon Griffin and Jourdan Thomas, who separately chose Mississippi State in the spring.