Henry Bainivalu

Henry Bainivalu works out at a camp this spring

(Courtesy of Northwest Prep Report)

The Oregon Ducks have been stingy when it comes to offering scholarships to sophomores in high school, but they have made a handful of exceptions.

West Linn sophomore cornerback Elijah Molden picked up an offer, as did linebacker Anthony Hines III, who has over 60 programs vying for his services. Throw in a couple of defensive and offensive linemen and that sums up the known scholarship offers the Ducks have dished out.

One of the more recent offers given to a sophomore went to 247Sports four-star offensive tackle Henry Bainivalu, out of Skyline High School (Sammamish, Washington).

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Northwest talent already boasts scholarships from Cal, Michigan, Oregon State, Utah, Washington and Washington State and the list continues to grow by the week.

For Bainivalu, the unexpected attention this early in his high school career is not only welcomed, but cherished.

"I'm actually really excited," he said. "I can't wait to see what happens next."

It's hard to blame him when the offers rolling in are coming from top-20 programs.

On Tuesday, USC became the latest school to formally offer the Northwest big man, joining Oregon and Michigan as the three schools that have wowed him thus far.

"That's pretty much Oregon and USC. I did not expect those - and Michigan," he said. "I really didn't expect those offers this early, or at all. They were really big surprises, nice surprises, but big surprises."

Given Oregon's conservation approach to offering sophomores, Bainivalu knows that he is in elite company and expressed interest in getting to know the coaching staff on a personal level.

"It has really humbled me to know a school that big is interested in me and has offered me when I'm still a sophomore," he said. "It means a lot. I'm interested in them. They are a great school. Obviously, I want to get to know more about them and how they get everything done at Oregon."

Oregon State was one of the first programs to pursue the athletic offensive line talent, and while his initial interest was limited, Bainivalu said that changed once he looked into what the Beavers had to offer.

"At first I wasn't super interested, because I was focused mainly on football and my team, but I looked into them a little bit and it seems like a really nice school," he said.

With that in mind, Bainivalu said he is planning unofficial visits to both Oregon and Oregon State while in Eugene this weekend for The Opening regional. The Oregon visit has already been established, but the offensive tackle said he is still working to solidify his plans to trip to Corvallis.

Bainivalu is poised to become of the most coveted athletes in the Northwest in the class of 2017, and he hopes visits this weekend help him develop some clarity about his distant decision.

-- Andrew Nemec

anemec@oregonian.com

@AndrewNemec