West Salem graduate Holden Whipple's journey to the Oregon Ducks
Holden Whipple wasn’t sure he could end up at his dream school when he was in his recruiting process in high school.
But after taking an indirect path, the West Salem High School graduate is happy being in the Oregon football program.
“I’ve wanted to be a Duck my whole life,” said Whipple, a walk-on offensive lineman with the Ducks. “That’s always been the dream of where I wanted to play college football.”
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Whipple is a Pac-12 athlete like his older sister, Paige, who played volleyball at Arizona.
Whipple’s original football recruiting process out of high school came during the height of the pandemic.
During his senior season at West Salem, the Titans went 6-0 in a condensed spring 2021 season, when the OSAA decided to have a shortened regional football season to limit travel during the pandemic.
And at the college level, the NCAA decided to have the 2020 season not count against player eligibility, which limited the scholarships available to the 2021 class.
Whipple signed with and spent his redshirt season last year at Northern Arizona.
“With the Covid year, I would say that recruiting as a whole has been different the past few years,” said Whipple, who was a two-star recruit coming out of West Salem, according to 247Sports.com. “So many guys have an extra year if they want it. Recruiting was definitely turned upside down.”
While at Northern Arizona, Whipple wasn’t feeling it.
For a number of reasons, Whipple decided to enter the transfer portal and reopen his recruitment.
“I was feeling a little bit homesick,” Whipple said. “I was going through struggles depth chart-wise, and some disagreements with my position coach helped push me to that decision.”
Whipple gets interest back home
Right away, Whipple was generating interest.
Whipple’s coach in high school, Shawn Stanley, had a connection to the coaching staff at Oregon under new head coach Dan Lanning.
Joe Lorig, the Ducks’ special teams coordinator and nickels coach, played college football with Stanley at Western Oregon.
“They said they’d love to have me on the team to contribute any way I could,” Whipple said. “They scheduled a visit. After the visit, they got back to me and made it official.”
Whipple has enjoyed his time at Oregon and being a part of a talented offensive lineman group that includes senior Alex Forsyth, who was on the preseason Outland Trophy watch list, an award given to the nation’s best interior lineman.
Like Whipple, Forsyth is an in-state talent — he played high school football at West Linn.
“As an offensive line, everything runs through you. It’s been special watching how they do everything,” Whipple said. “How professional they are in practice. How they take care of their bodies. Everything these guys do is so professional.”
During his time with the Ducks, who are 9-2, Whipple has twice been scout player of the week. Also, being close to home has allowed him to watch his younger brother, Hudson, play at West Salem.
Whipple’s father, Scott, said he is proud of his son to recognize that a change was needed.
“We were really supportive of him checking out all of his options,” Scott Whipple said. “The relationship that our family has supporting each other is pretty special.”
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Stanley said he’s happy for Whipple and the experience he is getting with the Ducks.
“My roommate from college is the special teams coordinator at Oregon, and I talked to him about Holden: what a great man he was and what a talented athlete he is,” Stanley said. “Obviously, it’s a huge step up in competition and talent level, but so far so good.”
Whipple has a message to the young athletes.
“To anyone who is a fringe guy, when it comes down to it, choose whatever your heart wants,” said Whipple, a business finance major. “Take away all the other factors, strip it down to where you want to play, who do I want to play for, and why do I want to play? If you want to be a college football player, it’s all about where you’re going to be happy, where you’re going to be successful.”
Holden Whipple
College: Oregon
Position: Offensive lineman
Year: Redshirt freshman
Height: 6-4
High school: West Salem
Previous college: Northern Arizona
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: West Salem graduate signs with Oregon Ducks football
