Oregon Football Recruiting: Ducks Try to Blow Up Another Whale in Brandon Arrington Chase

 Vengeance upon a dumb brute is madness. Sometimes, high school football recruiting is as delicate and difficult a process as blowing up a Cetacean. Originally you are setting up merely to land one, but in knowing how much dynamite to use, how much flattery, how much relationship-building, how much hardcore football evaluation and how many McDonald's bags of cash, the relentless and crazy pursuit of football excellence can be messy.

So it is this weekend in the Eugene, where Dan Lanning has to follow his instincts in the pursuit of Brandon "Dash" Arrington, an athlete from Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley, California, a cornerback and wide receiver who runs the 100 meters in 10.27. At 6-3, 180 he's a Top 15 recruit in the 247Sports Composite, the no. 1 athlete and a five-star prospect.

Along with a pod of the country's best talent, he's visiting the Hatfield-Dowlin Center today, part of a colossal recruiting event at UO.

As a sophomore Arrington won the state championship in the 100 and 200 meters. 

The wall of logos attests to just how elite Arrington is as a football prospect. In an interview with Josh Newberg of On3 Sports on Oct. 23 he identified Texas A&M and Oklahoma as the leaders in his recruitment, and said he intends to make a decision by the end of his junior year. This weekend marks his first visit to Oregon.

On Instagram the Under Armour All-American posted, "The main thing, when me and my parents talk about it, it's about relationships and trust."

Arrington runs the 40 in 4.38. He's talked about competing in both sports, track and football in college, and also about playing both ways on the gridiron. He told Irish Sports Daily, “You see Travis Hunter, he's doing it, so why can't I?” 

As a sophomore he had 14 receptions for 426 yards and six touchdowns on offense, 18 solo tackles and seven pass breakups in the secondary.

In August he told Chad Simmons of On3, “Texas A&M is definitely No. 1 right now. I like everything about Texas A&M. The staff and everybody is on me and they told me I’m their No. 1 target right now and they show it. I will be at Texas A&M a lot this year.”

About USC he said, “What excites me is that they showed me love and showed the priority they have for me and they been showing love since day one."

The top kids learn how to play this game; it's just good business. They're constantly pressed to name favorites, leaders, top this and top that. Arrington is sincere and polite in interviews, and he's given glowing reviews to a dozen schools following visits. The attention flows like a bloom of plankton in a gelid sea.

He's not related to Lavar Arrington, the linebacker from the New York Giants or Kyle Arrington of the Patriots. As a football prospect he is his own energetic light, sudden and quick-twitched as any young man in the world, a miracle of hard work and genetics.