Top prospect who Oregon 'Wowed' at visit drops confusing official visit list for Dan Lanning and Ducks to game plan against

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Ian Valentino | Last updated May 27, 2025 9:30 AM ET

The Oregon Ducks are right where they need and want to be with talented four-star linebacker Kenneth Goodwin III. The California native, who stands 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, announced his top five list of schools, and Oregon is right in the mix with Georgia, Michigan, SMU, and Texas A&M.

Goodwin also set a date of July 1 for an announcement. Clarity is coming, but Oregon head coach Dan Lanning might be concerned by his competition in this race. It's surprising to see SMU and Texas A&M still in this race.

This latest update did cut Arizona State, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio State and Notre Dame out of his consideration, and this quote should make Lanning feel better.

”How those guys run there program, it’s all business, all their players just eat and sleep football and I love it,” said Goodwin.

NEWS: Four-Star LB Kenneth Goodwin III is down to 5 Schools, he tells me for @on3recruits

The 6’2 212 LB from Las Vegas, NV will announce his College Decision on July 1st

Where Should He Go? ⬇️https://t.co/ovAQ7NUBkg pic.twitter.com/rmhy1RQHqd
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 24, 2025

But it's still strange to see non-contenders mixed in with recent powers. Maybe they're only on the list to squeeze out another visit to quality campuses or an effort to extract NIL money from.

Losing Goodwin, who is a blue-chipper as a top 400 prospect overall, to a lesser program would be a tough pill to swallow for a team not recruiting especially well at the moment. Still, there's a lot of good reviews on record from Goodwin about Oregon, and he's set to return for another visit on June 6.

“I’m feeling great with the connection I have with the Oregon staff,” Goodwin told Scoop Duck after the trip. “Coach (Dan) Lanning, Coach Lupoi they have a great background with Coach Lanning being the defensive coordinator at Georgia when they won the championship,” the linebacker said. “So I can say they know how to utilize me and utilize my position. So I can say that’s good.”

Goodwin also loved his time in Eugene for the spring game. He

“It was great. It felt like a game out there,” said Goodwin. “So that was dope to see, most teams’ spring game doesn’t feel like that. So I felt like that was cool, that Oregon environment was still the same, even though it wasn’t a real game.”

He was also quite excited about Georgia and Michigan, so it's safe to assume those three teams are the favorites to land him. Right now, the Bulldogs are considered slight leans by experts, but we'll see how June visits shake out.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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