Brayden Platt commits to Oregon Ducks as top 2024 football recruit from Washington

Yelm's Brayden Platt had made his career goals public for a while now: He wants to play football in the NFL. And he also wants to throw in the Summer Olympics with USA Track & Field.

With all of that in mind, the 6-foot-2, 245-pound best-in-Washington recruit announced Monday what the best road to that goal is - joining the Oregon Ducks.

The Tornados' linebacker Oregon over Oklahoma in a much-anticipated, months-long recruiting battle between the two Power 5 programs.

With the decision, Platt becomes the 12th four-star recruit to pledge to the Ducks in the class of 2024 - and is the school's second-highest ranked national recruit (No. 72) behind Alabama teenager JacQawn McRoy (No. 56), according to 247Sports.com.

On his mother's birthday, Platt revealed his choice in the most unique of ways - revealing the Ducks' green-and-yellow colors through the filling of an 'O'-shaped cake.

Since last spring, Platt has shifted into overdrive in finishing his recruiting.

In April, he announced his eight finalists - Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas A&M, UCLA and USC - before starting to take a slew of official visits.

In July, Platt trimmed his list to two - the Ducks and the Sooners.

Platt was named SBLive WA's all-state two-way player of the year in 2022, rushing 132 times for 1,242 yards and 24 touchdowns while anchoring arguably the best defense at inside linebacker for the first-time Class 3A champions.

He also is a two-time WIAA champion in the boys' shotput - and two-time All-American finisher as well.

And with the Ducks, he arrives at two of the best dual-sport venues in college athletics - Autzen Stadium (football) and Hayward Field (track and field), home of "TrackTown USA."