Dakota Prukop

(Associated Press)

Dakota Prukop's weekend visits to Oregon and Alabama were followed by a flight to Hawaii Monday for a previously planned vacation.

The coveted graduate transfer quarterback planned to further weigh his options after arriving in Hawaii before committing to either Oregon or Alabama Monday night.

It wasn't that easy.

Prukop sought advice from several people close to him and waited until Tuesday to make a final decision, which was to commit to the Ducks.

"Oregon and coach [Mark] Helfrich made me a challenge to come and take the Ducks to the next level and do something that's never been done before there," Prukop said during a conference call with a small group of reporters Tuesday night, referencing Oregon's quest for its first national championship. "... That was something that was kind of enticing to me because I've kind of somewhat been through the process before of kind of making a program take the next step. That started in high school, and it's kind of translated through. I kind of take the trailblazer route, and that's something that kind of turned my decision and made me absolute on the route that I wanted to take."

Prukop decided to explore transferring from Montana State of the FCS to an FBS school early last week after throwing for 3,025 yards and 28 touchdowns while also running for 797 yards and 11 scores as a redshirt junior for the 5-6 Bobcats.

Oregon was the first school Prukop talked to. The weekend visit was quickly set up. Several other prominent schools like Texas and Michigan reached out as well, each expressing interest and pitching their respective program. Alabama didn't make contact until Saturday morning, but made a quick impression.

Prukop was on his Oregon visit when he got a phone call from Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.

He told Kiffin he would call back after finishing his Oregon visit.

When Prukop called back during the afternoon, Kiffin shared that Alabama was interested and explained why Prukop should visit Tuscaloosa and consider transferring to the Tide. The pitch was intriguing enough that Prukop took a red-eye flight from Oregon to Alabama late Saturday night.

On Sunday, Prukop met with Saban. He was also shown film of Alabama's offense, was told about the style of offense Alabama would like to transition to and how a quarterback with his dual-threat ability would fit well into that offense.

Saban and Kiffin attempted to sell Prukop on playing for a program with the history of Alabama's and on being able to add a dual-threat quarterback dynamic to the Tide's offense.

Saban and Kiffin made a final pitch over the phone Monday before Prukop decided on Oregon, which was his early top choice.

"It was tough because there wasn't one wrong answer," Prukop said. "There's two really good decisions, two really good schools to choose from. And it was more so what's best for me, where I'm going to be happy, and that's what it came down to."

Alabama will have to replace senior quarterback Jake Coker after this season.

The Tide has three younger quarterbacks who are former top recruits, including promising freshman Blake Barnett and redshirt sophomore Cooper Bateman.

But they lack experience.

The four scholarship quarterbacks on Alabama's roster aside from Coker have made just one career start combined.

That apparently has the Tide interested in adding an experienced, proven player to compete with the returning group of quarterbacks.

"It would have been a competition either way when you look at it, whatever school you went to," Prukop said. "[Alabama is] confident in their guys. But competition breeds success on a team, and any school that has a chance to create competition is going to elevate their program. I think that's something Alabama [believes in] and something you're seeing at Oregon now."