Seen for the first time by the Oregon coaching staff at a combine in Corona, La Verne (Calif.) Damien defensive end Jon Rabe (6-5, 260) made a lasting impression on the coaches.
On July 28th, Rabe received a written offer from the Ducks, and last weekend, he and his family visited Eugene to see the Oregon campus for themselves.
And a few days after returning home, the Ducks received a verbal commitment from Rabe.
“I went up there for a preview day, and then on Monday the 6th, I called the coaches and I committed,” said Rabe. “I felt really comfortable when I walked on the camps. I liked the coaches a lot. Coach (Tom) Osborne was the first one recruiting me than Coach (Michael) Gray took over pretty quickly.”
Rabe said that his position for the Ducks will be known when he gets there, but it was clear what side of the ball he’d be playing.
I’m playing defense, definitely. They recruited me on the defensive line. I don’t really care where I play. Defensive tackle is a possibility,” said Rabe.
The Ducks weren’t the only Pac-10 program he was hearing from, with Arizona State, Arizona, Washington and Stanford expressing interest, as well as Colorado, Boise State and Nevada, the Wolfpack having offered.
But with interest from those schools, their time has past, as Rabe said he’s not even going to look or listen to any other school.
“I’m going to Oregon, it’s as simple as it gets,” said Rabe. “After hearing from them, I pretty much waited for my offer, and then I took the trip up there. They just opened their sports medicine facility and that’s pretty cool. The campus is just amazing.”
Last fall, Rabe had 77 tackles and 7.5 sacks en route to all-Sierra League and all-Inland Valley as well as First Team all-Area.
This year, they open with Riverside Poly and a big Sierra League game against Chino Hills will match him up, on both sides of the ball, with another Pac-10 player, Cory Harkey.
Academically, he has a 3.65 GPA and scored a 1540 on the SAT.