Oregon Lands its Second Commit in Two Days|Oregon Hot Topics|Team BattleGround|College BattleGround

Tennessee defensive lineman, Rutger Reitmaier, committed to the Ducks while on his unofficial visit today. Reitmaier left for his visit on June 7th and planned to visit Eugene, tour the facilities, and meet with the coaches on June 8th and 9th before heading back home to Nashville, TN. The 3-star DT selected Oregon over schools such as: Tennessee (thought to be the other favorite), Penn State, Duke, and Nebraska.

Reitmaier is the number 23 DT in the nation and also ranks as the number 10 recruit in Tennessee. Oregon has been trying to recruit the Tennessee are more heavily this year. Oregon has had some success in the last two classes signing: 4* WR Dillon Mitchell and 3* CB Ugo Amadi. Oregon also has offers out to other Tennessee natives which include: 4* WR Tee Higgins, 4* OT Trey Smith, 3* TE LaTrell Bumphus, 3* ILB Jacob Phillips, and 5* ATH JaCoby Stevens. Hopefully the commitment of Reitmaier furthers Oregon’s presence in the fertile football state of Tennessee.

The Skinny

Like most kids coming into college, Reitmaier needs to put on more weight. Standing at 6-3, he already has a frame in which allows him to put on more muscle. As I said before, most recruits come into college needing to put on weight, with Oregon’s elite athletic trainers and dieticians, Reitmaier will be good once he gets on campus.

Although Reitmaier isn’t a big defensive tackle (yet), he has incredible speed. He consistently shoots the “A” gap which allows for more back field tackles. He has reportedly run a 4.9 40-yard dash which is impressive for a defensive tackle. Reitmaier also does a great job of not letting the offensive linemen put hands on him by using his hands to swipe and swim over the defender. Being able to use your hands to brush past a defender is something he needs to develop more, but he already has a great base going into college.

One aspect of Reitmaier’s game he needs to work on is staying low and not coming off of the block too high. Staying low and keeping your pad level low helps a rusher gain leverage over the offensive lineman. Reitmaier sometimes comes off the line too high and it stunts his bull rush ability, but if he worked on staying low he could turn up his bull rushing technique. He already has the upper body strength to rush adequately, but keeping his pad level low will put him over the top.

Oregon has started off the 2017 recruiting cycle slow. The past two days has been great for the Ducks. Yesterday they received a commitment from Juco OT John Vaka and now today Oregon receives a huge commitment from Tennessee DT Rutger Reitmaier. Hopefully this is will kick Oregon’s recruiting into high gear for the following summer months.

Here are Reitmaier’s highlights courtesy of Hudl: