Sione Laulea Reflects on Oregon Commitment, Recruiting Process
Last month Oregon secured a commitment from College of San Mateo (Calif.) cornerback Sione Laulea III, who pledged to the Ducks over the likes of USC, Miami and others.
I had the chance to speak with the 6-foot-4, 190-pound defensive back to go inside his decision to commit to Oregon.
"Everything just seemed to fit right," he said of his commitment to the Ducks. "Culture and my trust within the coaching staff. Development, they have a good scale of development going on with players they're funneling to the next level. They're obviously performing well."
Laulea was able to see the staff's strong track record of development, particularly with Christian Gonzalez being selected by the New England Patriots in the first round in the 2023 NFL Draft.
"Also, they know what they're doing with people of my size and frame and my position. With Christian Gonzalez going to the NFL. Him being a rangier corner and then their corners right now being a bit more lengthy and competing well. Just all seem to plug and play well, especially since I find it similar to my junior college the way the system is ran."
One of the newest Ducks offered more detail on what stood out about the culture Dan Lanning has created in Eugene.
"It was just different than most other schools. There's always a sense of, I wouldn't say greed, but like people wanting their own wherever you go, just to get to the next level.
"But you could see in the locker room and all of their team bonding stuff that they're all playing for each other. That they all love each other and they work as a system and it's nothing individual."
It was a tight race to land the highly-coveted defensive back and he reflected on the home stretch of his recruitment.
"It came pretty close like you said. But then it was just minor details. But it was just a matter of fit and where I felt best. And I really just looked into depth.
"You go through things like that. It's clear that Oregon was a place--like I said, they're doing great things with people of my size, shape and position. So once I really clicked, locked in on that, then I realized that this would be the best place of development."
Laulea revealed that his decision came down to Oregon and Penn State, a school that was in his top five, but not his final three.
Not only was it the development at Oregon that made it the right place, but also the relationships that he was able to build with the staff.
"I was very tied in with the coaches. Started off with Coach Lupoi. He's a great person, we come from the same area. He's from the Bay area, so we have like natural roots of being from the same place, so we connect pretty well."
The official visit to Oregon was a big piece of the puzzle for Laulea, who also has a strong connection with his future position coach.
"Coach Tosh and Coach Lanning probably didn't leave my side the whole time," he said. "And Coach Lanning is a great person. He reminds me a lot of my head coach, the way he's tough with coaching (but) at the same time, he cares, like I said about the development. And then Coach Meat, everybody knows what Coach Meat is. He's a great person, even better coach all of that. I'm extremely comfortable with him."
The future Ducks cornerback is planning to graduate from College of San Mateo in December and enroll early at Oregon in time for spring football.
He'll have three years to use two seasons of eligibility, meaning he still has a redshirt year.
He chose to finish the interview with a trio of shoutouts to people who helped him make it to this point.
"Shout out my grandfather. Shout out OG (Omari Green). OG is DBU the CSM guru, and then shout out my barber Fidel."
