Gilbert Tongrongou Recaps Oregon Visit

The defensive lineman from Virginia made the cross-country trip to Eugene for his final official visit of June.

2022 defensive end Gilbert Tongrongou has had an impressive start to his young football career. He began playing football less than three years ago as a freshman at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Va.

In Forest Park's shortened season in 2020, Tongrongou didn't look like a kid that just learned how to play football two years ago. He earned Cardinal District Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the All-District First Team Defense and Offense, as he also plays on the offensive line for Forest Park.

As a result of his dominant junior season, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound junior has garnered 13 offers from programs such as Oregon, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Boston College.

The offer from Oregon — which was given to him on April 21 — came out of nowhere, as the Ducks’ coaches sent Tongrongou a message on Twitter asking for his phone number and said he would receive a call soon.

"It happened pretty quick," Tongrongou recalled, telling Ducks Digest that a recruiting coach called him and put Joe Salave'a and Mario Cristobal on the phone.

"Salave’a and Cristobal were in a meeting, and they pulled them out of it," he said. "I chopped it up with Salave’a first, and then Cristobal came out of the meeting and announced the offer. It was pretty wild."

Once the dead period ended, Tongrongou took official visits to Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Boston College. Then, he flew across the country to Eugene with his mom, brothers, and Forest Park Head Coach John Robinette for his final official visit of the month of June.

Coach Salave'a and Coach Cristobal met Tongrongou at the airport on Friday and introduced him to Oregon for the first time. The Woodbridge, Va., native told Ducks Digest that he had never been to the state before and had only been to the West Coast once — a vacation to California.

"The weather while we were down there was kind of hot, but I liked it overall," Tongrongou said of Eugene. "It's a small town, and you can really just focus on football and focus on you."

He got the complete tour of the campus and facilities from defensive lineman Keyon Ware-Hudson and assistant defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere. One of the highlights for Tongrongou was visiting the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center.

"I liked seeing how much stuff they have in there to help their players in recovery and everything you can name," he said.

Tongrongou got his offseason fix of competition by going bowling with Ware-Hudson and defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus. He enjoyed spending time with Ware-Hudson and asking him questions.

"He's a chill guy," Tongrongou said. "He's about his business, and you can tell just from talking to him. He gave me the rundown on how it is at Oregon day by day."

While he is ultimately making visits to talk to the coaches about his fit with the football program, he said he appreciated talking about life and non-football-related things, especially with Coach Cristobal and Defensive Coordinator Tim DeRuyter.

"He wasn't trying to pressure me into committing or anything like that," Tongrongou said of his conversations with Cristobal. "He's down to earth, and he's a coach that you can actually talk to and not just a guy who will pressure you into committing.

"DeRuyter is also a coach that you can really have a good conversation about life with. He brought up recruiting once, but that wasn't even about committing."

Tongrongou said that he has communicated with the coaching staff almost every day since he was offered, especially with Coach Salave'a and Coach Cristobal.

"We have a group chat with my mom," he said of Cristobal. "He sends information and checks up on us."

Tongrongou told Ducks Digest that he is going to meet with his family and Coach Robinette to discuss his decision soon and that there isn't a clear frontrunner in the race to land him.

Despite being nearly 3,000 miles away from his hometown of Woodbridge, the Ducks are squarely in the mix for the defensive end. He said that Oregon, Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Virginia are recruiting him the hardest, and he wants to visit Oregon again.

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