Oregon came into the Midwest and received a commitment from one of the top offensive linemen in the region in Chicago (Ill.) Simeon's Marcus Harper, the standout guard announced via a commitment video.

Harper was once committed to Illinois, but re-opened his recruitment in late April and Oregon was one of the visits he took during the next phase of his recruitment. The Ducks hosted him for a mid-week official visit starting on June 11th and wound up getting his commitment over Purdue and Iowa State, two other schools who pursued him vigorously throughout the process.

In total, he held 29 scholarship offers with Indiana, Michigan State, Louisville, Kansas State, Duke and Nebraska as the other Power 5 programs who also offered.

"Oregon has everything I look for in a school," said the 6-foot-4, 290-pound Harper. "They are contenders to be in the national championship and I have a chance to come in and make an immediate impact as a freshman."

Oregon initially offered Harper a scholarship in February. After he re-opened the process and as he took a look further away from home, Oregon quickly became the leader in his recruitment. The 247Sports Crystal Ball was 86% accurate in predicting Harper to the Ducks. In addition to the possibility of early playing time and winning culture, Harper also found a strong relationship with the coaches, particularly head coach Mario Cristobal, who has an offensive line background.

"I have a great relationship with Coach Cristobal," Harper said. "That’s my guy."

Interior offensive line coach Alex Mirabal served as primary recruiter for Oregon in addition to the relationship Harper built with Cristobal.

Harper was a standout at Homewood-Flossmoor as a sophomore and junior. He has transferred to Simeon where he will play his senior season. A powerful run-blocker who finishes his blocks, he is ranked the No. 45 guard in the country by the 247Sports Composite. 247Sports' in-house rankings have him slightly higher at No. 34. Both the composite and 247Sports rank him as the No. 9 class of 2020 recruit in the state of Illinois.

He becomes the 15th commitment in a 2020 class for the Ducks that ranks first in the Pac-12 and 12th overall nationally.

He joins Hawaii-native Faaope Laloulu as the two offensive linemen currently committed in the class.

The Ducks have not had a commit from Illinois in some time, but the Ducks have previously landed players from the Midwest, most notable on the offensive line was Jake Fisher (Traverse City, Mich.) who became a 2nd Round selection of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Harper did not attend any regional camps this off-season, but 247Sports got a live look at him at the Lindenwood Mega-Camp last summer, where he was noted as a top performer.