Bryce Youngquist

Bryce Youngquist holds Marcus Mariota's Heisman Trophy during his unofficial visit

(Courtesy of Bryce Youngquist)

247Sports four-star linebacker Bryce Youngquist has made no secret of his excitement about his offer from the University of Oregon, immediately moving them to the top grouping when he received a scholarship earlier this year.

Shortly after his unofficial visit to Oregon for the spring game, the Los Osos High School (Rancho Cucamonga, California) product named the Ducks his leader.

"Oregon, it truly blew away any school I visited," he told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "It's unlike any other school I've ever visited - just the way the program is constructed together, the way the players are formed together. It's just a true team atmosphere."

On Friday, Youngquist took that feeling a step further, expressing that Oregon has a "90 percent" chance of landing his commitment.

"Oregon is No. 1 on my board," he explained. "I've still got to visit schools, but I'm really leaning hard to Oregon right now. After I take my unofficial visits to Oklahoma and Wisconsin, I'll give it about a month, then probably announce in August."

That's earlier than Youngquist anticipated making his decision when his recruiting process began to pick up, but his relationship with the program and his love of the facilities and campus have launched the Ducks to the top spot.

"Oregon is just that school for me, up to this point, at least. It's my best option, really," he said. "Football is great, but it's the area around Oregon. It's really, really nice. They have the academic support for all their players, especially the incoming freshmen. It's a team mentality. I absolutely love everything about Oregon."

However, Youngquist, who is rated the No. 152 prospect in the country and No. 14 outside linebacker by Rivals, will visit Oklahoma and Wisconsin before making a decision.

"I just plan on visiting schools out in the Midwest that offered me," he explained. "Once I see those schools, I'll get a real good feel of what I really am going to decide - most likely Oregon. There's no other campus I've seen that's even like that."

Asked if his commitment was a done deal, Youngquist hesitated a bit.

"Almost, almost, yeah," he said.

The Ducks coaching staff would like to make that official, but it appears a couple of visits stand in the way of its latest four-star pledge, who holds offers from Arizona State, Duke, Illinois, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oregon State, San Diego State, Utah, Wisconsin and others.

Oregon has eight commitments in the class of 2016, most recently landing defensive end/outside linebacker Hunter Kampmoyer. But the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Youngquist would represent the Ducks' highest-rated linebacker pledge so far, which is major focal point of the current recruiting cycle.

-- Andrew Nemec

anemec@oregonian.com

@AndrewNemec