Yanked scholarship offer peeves SoCal prep coach.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

A high school coach from one of Southern California's top prep programs expressed frustration with the UO football staff Monday after the Ducks withdrew a scholarship offer that had been accepted by one of his players last week.

Todd Therrien of defending state champion Saint Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif., said "Oregon is not welcome here" to recruit his players after the Ducks ended their pursuit of safety Xavier Ramos on Monday.

According to Therrien, Ramos received a written scholarship offer from Oregon last week, then called UO coaches to accept it. But on Monday, Therrien said, UO associate head coach and offensive line coach Steve Greatwood, who is responsible for recruiting the region that includes Saint Bonaventure, called Therrien and rescinded the offer.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, who is barred from publicly commenting on recruits the Ducks are pursuing but have yet to officially sign, addressed the situation in a statement released Monday afternoon.

"We acknowledge this is an unfortunate aspect of recruiting and always feel bad for any feelings that are hurt," Bellotti said. "Another young man committed to us earlier at the same position and we didn't feel we could accept both of them. There were breakdowns in communication resulting in the situation not handled as we would have preferred.

"We always feel it is best to notify all parties involved of our intentions early, while they still have options to pursue other opportunities, rather than wait until February when their options are limited."

Therrien said he got a similar explanation from Bellotti in a phone call late Monday morning.

"It was just about offering too many scholarships out," Therrien said.

An example of a letter sent by Oregon to recruits offered a scholarship can be found at www.qbforce.com, where the family of quarterback Tate Forcier is documenting his recruitment by a number of programs. In the letter to Forcier, Bellotti writes that the "offer is made in good faith," but that, "If this offer is not accepted by a date which is agreeable to us, the agreement may have to be altered."

Brandon Huffman, the West recruiting manager for Scout.com, described Ramos as a "sleeper" recruit whose offer from Oregon was the player's first from a school in any of the six BCS conferences. Huffman said Oregon's withdrawal of the offer was "not uncommon," though it more typically occurs when recruits initially spurn offers from mid-major programs, then try to return to them when they don't draw interest from bigger BCS programs.

"And where you don't see this happening is in June the year before signing day," Huffman said. "It usually happens closer to signing day."

The identity of the player who committed to Oregon along with Ramos, leading the Ducks to pull their offer to Ramos, was unknown as of Monday evening.

Saint Bonaventure is a private Catholic high school that won a state Division III title last fall behind running back Darrell Scott, who signed a letter of intent with Colorado. Two of the school's alumni are currently in the Pac-10, including linebacker Dwight Roberson of Oregon State. Safety Patrick Hall made a verbal commitment to sign with USC in February of next year.

Therrien said he had "always had a high respect for Oregon and the way they handle themselves" before Monday. Clearly, that has changed.

"I don't want to see them on campus at all," Therrien said, assigning blame for the situation not to Greatwood but rather "the whole defensive staff" at Oregon.

Saint Bonaventure's starting quarterback last fall was Casey Serna, who has signed a letter of intent to join the UO baseball program in the fall.

Given the talent returning to the team, Huffman said, the school is expected to repeat as state champs.

"It's not good to be on bad terms with them right now," Huffman said.

He added, however, that he expects any tension between Saint Bonaventure and Oregon to ease, potentially within the year if the high school has another player whose best scholarship offer is from the Ducks.

"The farther away from the situation you get, that will be something that's water under the bridge," Huffman said.

Therrien said this is the second time this year a college has pulled an offer to one of his players. According to the Los Angeles Times, "(f)ormer St. Bonaventure linebacker Loren Powers signed with Tulsa, only to have the scholarship revoked because of an issue involving an SAT score - even though Powers was an NCAA qualifier, according to Therrien."

Therrien said in a phone interview Monday that, "all we ask is for colleges to be up front and truthful in the recruiting process. We understand another kid may be better, bigger, faster. But when someone is given a written scholarship offer, and then they renege, that's tragic."

According to the coach, Ramos received a written scholarship offer from Oregon in the mail last week, though Therrien said Monday afternoon he hadn't personally seen it. In the world of recruiting, Therrien said, "verbal offers don't mean anything, (but) written offers mean something."

Therrien said Ramos has an offer from Army, and that Arizona is waiting to review his performances early this fall before deciding whether to offer. Fresno State and San Diego State have also been in contact with Ramos, Therrien said.