Andrew Hunter commits to University of Oregon

Not smart enough for UVA or Georgetown?

He's plenty smart. Going to Oregon is his best chance of maximizing his running talent and turning pro. Good for him. Stanford or Colorado would have been great choices as well, Georgetown and UVA less good for a professional career, but still decent choices.

Exciting news for the ducks. Cant wait to see what this group, plus any other pickups they get this year, do in the coming years.

Go ducks!

Back burn wrote:

He's plenty smart. Going to Oregon is his best chance of maximizing his running talent and turning pro. Good for him. Stanford or Colorado would have been great choices as well, Georgetown and UVA less good for a professional career, but still decent choices.

Perhaps you should check out the list of professionals Georgetown alum.

Georgetown has a rich history from the 90s, nothing recent. Most of their best runners of recent quit shortly after graduating.

Oregon literally floods the professional scene with runners.

Rupp

Puskedra

Wheating

Centro

Acosta

McNamara

Jenkins

Chez (still there, but professional quality)

..and that was super quick off the top of my head, probably plenty more if I googled.

Haney

Maton

Hunter

Lookin' good for the next few years I'd say.

and Anderson and now Thomet

wow good young core

-blake haney

-matthew maton

-tanner anderson

-drew hunter

should be an interesting next few years

Shame

1 more will announce soon.

And Jackson Mestler and Levi Thonet have signed with Oregon.

They only have this year and next with Cheserek, but what a core group they will have behind him. It seems the rich get richer, but you can't blame these kids for going there...the best facilities, support and tradition of any place in the country.

georgetown wrote:

Oregon literally floods the professional scene with runners.

Rupp - cheater. Very selfish.

Puskedra - hobby jogger.

Wheating - was good like 7 years ago.

Centro - cheater. Surly attitude. Punk.

Acosta - Seriously?

McNamara - who?

Jenkins - can be good.

Chez (still there, but professional quality) - and how old is he? 40?

..and that was super quick off the top of my head, probably plenty more if I googled.

13njdjgkskgsndgsd wrote:

wow good young core

-blake haney

-matthew maton

-tanner anderson

-drew hunter

should be an interesting next few years

There is no denying that this is an amazing group of young talent. They will push each other to do great things. They will be tough to beat. And hopefully some will turn pro and have that experience for a few years.

My guess is that greater than fifty percent of this group would have gone to Stanford if they would have been able to make the academic requirements for acceptance.

I say that because of the longer term advantages a Stanford education and other institutions like Georgetown and many others will bring. Stanford, and others, are at a disadvantage, when it comes to recruiting top athletes, when compared to Oregon, because of their difficult entrance requirements. Oregon has several advantages when it comes to recruiting athletes (emphasis on track & field, training facilities, connection with Nike and all that brings or dangles, very good coaching). Arguably, academic requirements, may be their number one advantage.

Andrew Hunter is a big "swing" type of athlete, given this years recruiting class not being as strong as last years. Had he gone to Stanford he would have tipped the scale in Stanford's favor with respect to young (frosh/soph) mid-distance and distance talent. By him going to Oregon, he tips the scale to them having the stronger group of current young talent - in my opinion.

There are several other great university programs for middle and long distance runners that combine varying levels of academic excellence. Some emphasize one area more than the other. For a program that emphasizes both middle and long distance, and has the top young talent in both, it is hard to beat Oregon. Stanford gets my nod as number one with respect to all around academic, athletic, and current and future opportunities that that brings.

Stanford is a much better bet post collegiately if you don't make it as a pro. Way more likely to get a better job.

Most pro runners make a little money for less than 5 years and then are in trouble. Rupp or centro are the exceptions and I hope Wheating putbhis money in the bank.

Credit to Hunter for making an investment on his future career. He's the most talented American high school runner since the Big 3 (possibly Fisher and Maton, but I'm not sure), and there's a very clear path ahead that could lead to him winning prestige, money, and some hardware in a sport he loves if everything breaks right. It's likely enough that he'll work as hard as he can for everything to break right. If his pro career doesn't work out, he can always go to grad school, provided he has the grades, and grad school matters more than undergrad in terms of a career. Yes, he'd probably be more prepared for life with a Stanford degree, but not to such a degree that he'll be at a serious detriment with an Oregon degree, and the more attention he'll be able to focus on running might be worth it.

[quote]Jobsman wrote:

Stanford is a much better bet post collegiately if you don't make it as a pro. Way more likely to get a better job.

Yes, but... pro or not, post collegiate or not, one must still have the grades (very good grades) to get in.

So I guess he doesn't value his education. That's a shame.

Good luck to Andrew and all the fine young talent that we are lucky to witness.

You sound like you may have been involved in his decision. If so, I am sure much thought went into that decision. Any institution would have been lucky to have him. He will do great things at Oregon.