Nobody’s smiling harder than Eugene right now, and for good reason. The entire city of Eugene and Dan Lanning‘s on Cloud 9. The No.1 ranked Oregon Football, backed by Phil Knight’s Nike empire, just pulled off the ultimate flex on National Signing Day. Oregon With a No. 1 recruiting class and unlimited NIL backing from their sugar daddy, the Ducks are soaring past their rivals, both in the ball game and the recruiting game. But here’s the kicker—this “Nike-fueled” dominance isn’t sitting well with everyone. Is it a success, or is it just a paycheck championship?
Phil Knight and Oregon go way back, like bell-bottoms and disco era. The Nike co-founder has been repping the Ducks since the ’70s; after all, he’s an Oregon alum. For Oregon Ducks, it’s “Uncle Phil.” But this ain’t just about nostalgia—Knight is literally the sugar daddy of Oregon Football.
And Uncle Phil loves to take care of his nephews in Eugene with crazy NIL money. Through Nike-backed NIL deals and his Division Street collective, he’s literally rewriting the rules of college football, letting players rake in millions. This changed the game for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks. The Oregon Ducks are winning on and off the field. And Dan Lanning is having the time of his life. The Ducks literally own the recruitment game with Nike Money.
At 86 years old, Uncle Phil isn’t just funding the Ducks—he’s on a mission to see the ducking lifting that national championship trophy. But time’s not side on his side, though. Before he starts to see only black, he loves to see Green winning the chip. His all-out effort delivered a recruiting masterclass on Signing Day, flipping 5-star cornerback Na’eem Offord from Ohio State and 5-star quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele from Cal. Let’s not forget four-star Zac Stascausky ditching Washington or linebacker Gavin Nix waving bye to Miami.
Oregon’s final haul? Four 5-stars and 2 Signing Day flips. Diabolical doesn’t even begin to describe the work of Phil Knight and head coach Dan Lanning. The duo’s recruiting rampage left rival fans fuming—and Oregon’s faithful partying like it’s 1999.
Phil Knight and Dan Lanning had the entire college football world fuming
Oregon fans were all over social media celebrating their team’s No. 1 recruiting class and the rest of the college football world. Not so much. The haters came out in full force on Rival’s Twitter post, and boy, you could literally see them tweaking from their reaction. One fan threw some love at Oregon, saying, “Best team in the nation,” but others weren’t having it. An Ohio State fan chimed in, sarcastically noting, “With that Nike money, they’re very likely going to get a ring soon.” Yeah, because Oregon’s success is obviously all about the cash, right? Meanwhile, Oregon fans were ready to shut down the noise.
The hate kept flowing and flowing. One fan dropped a line that could’ve been straight out of a rage tweet: “The hate for Oregon is crazy. Hopefully, we can win a national championship this year and put it to rest.#1 in CFP rankings and recruiting, 12-0 record playing for the Big 10 championship in year 1, and people are still talking crazy.” This was clearly a shot at all the critics who can’t seem to stop talking about Oregon’s success, even though they’re sitting pretty at No. 1 at ranking and recruiting.
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