Potential future Oregon Duck Will Mencl earned a major jump in his recruiting ranking heading into his senior season.
Oregon has quickly become a quarterback hotbed under the watchful eye of Dan Lanning. In consecutive years, they have gone from Bo Nix to Dillon Gabriel, to Dante Moore with Dylan Riola waiting in the wings.
If all goes well, Moore will go to the 2027 NFL Draft, pass the torch to Riola for one season, and then who is next?
Several names will come to the surface as the recruiting trail picks up, but there is one that will stand out at the beginning of the 2027 recruiting cycle, and his name is Will Mencl.
Mencl is a member of the 2027 class and had by far the largest jump in his ranking to start the 2026 offseason. The talented playmaker went from being an unranked prospect according to On3 to a five-star who is the No. 4 player in the country and the No. 1 quarterback in the nation.
Thankfully for the Ducks, they were on him early. Sometimes a risk pays dividends, and sometimes it doesnt, but in this case, the Ducks could get a major return for taking a chance.
When Mencl was an unranked player, Oregon was one of the teams on him. Now that he is one of the best players in the country and every team will have a chance at him, the Ducks will have the luxury of being one of his first interests.
It may or may not pay off, but it is a good place to be if you are in Oregon.
According to Rivals, Mencl is warm to three schools at the moment: Auburn, North Carolina, and Oregon.
Ultimately, this means nothing at this point in the game because none of the top-dogs have made the call, and this list will certainly change. For Dan Lanning and the Ducks, it is great that they are here.
The next stretch of five years will be incredibly critical for Lanning and his program. He is largely regarded as one of the best coaches in the country, but his timeline was sped up significantly thanks to Curt Cignetti's Indiana Hoosiers last year.
Lanning does and is all of the right things as a head coach. He recruits, he motivates, his teams are tough, they are disciplined, but they just can't win in the tournament for now.
They are set at the quarterback position for the next two years, and if things go well, they could be set for the long run..
Ducks Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Oregon Ducks. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.