Oregon Lands 5-Star Offensive Lineman Kelvin Banks, Nation's No. 1 Recruit J.T. Tuimoloau Chooses Ohio State

Photo from Kelvin Banks (@Kelvinbanksjr12) Twitter

The nation’s No. 1 recruit, five-star defensive lineman, J.T. Tuimoloau chooses the Buckeyes over the Ducks on Sunday. Tuimoloau took all of his official visits to each of the four finalist schools before making a decision on where he would play. Oregon was among the four finalists, with the others being Ohio State, USC, and his home state University of Washington. Tuimoloau is rated as the No. 24 prospect of all time, and projects to be a future NFL first-round draft pick according to 247Sports.

With the commitment of J.T. Tuimoloau to Ohio State, it wraps up a recruitment that started nearly four years ago. In 19 recruiting classes I’ve covered, he’s hands down the best recruit I’ve seen from the state of Washington.

— Brandon Huffman (@BrandonHuffman) July 4, 2021

Although Duck fans were hoping J.T. would throw on the green and yellow on Sunday, Cristobal’s staff was still able to land the highest rated offensive lineman prospect in program history. Five-star offensive tackle Kelvin Banks made his official visit to Eugene in June, and now becomes the fifth prospect from the state of Texas to choose Oregon in this recruiting cycle. Banks is the No. 14 overall prospect in the 2022 class, the No. 2 offensive tackle, and committed to the Ducks over LSU, Texas, and Texas A&M.