Anthony Cartwright III flips the 2027 tight end race, choosing Oregon over LSU

What happened: Anthony Cartwright III, a four-star tight end in the 2027 recruiting class, committed to Oregon, passing on a group that included LSU, Miami, Michigan, and Michigan State. The decision was announced on social media with the message “God’s plans. Go Ducks.”

Cartwright’s profile gives context to why the recruiting swing matters. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, he is ranked as the No. 16 tight end in the country and the No. 6 player in the state of Michigan, according to the rankings referenced in the report. Those labels matter because tight end recruiting increasingly shapes how teams build their passing games, especially in personnel packages that ask the position to win in both the seam and the red zone.

For LSU, the loss is notable on two fronts. First, it reflects the difficulty of landing elite in-state and near-in-state prospects at premium positions when multiple high-major programs are in the mix. Second, LSU had been positioned as an option among several programs for Cartwright’s commitment, and missing out means the Tigers will need to recalibrate their 2027 tight end pipeline while other teams keep stacking high-ceiling prospects.

The recruiting picture also highlights the geographic and brand pull Oregon can demonstrate for a Michigan prospect. Cartwright ultimately chose the Ducks over programs that each carry their own recruiting gravity: Miami as a national talent magnet, Michigan as a home-state powerhouse, and Michigan State as the in-state alternative for similar recruiting targets. Oregon, meanwhile, is positioning itself to keep converting high-end skill recruits into commitments, even when the competition is not light.

The report frames LSU’s miss as a lost opportunity to help form the “best positional duo” in the 2027 class, but the specific names or prior commitment that would make that pairing possible were not provided in the available detail. Still, the broader implication is clear: when a program loses a prospect with Cartwright’s size and ranking level, it affects not only talent depth, but also the way a staff can plan its offense around tight ends as matchup weapons.

What to watch next for LSU is how it responds in the remaining 2027 recruiting window. With Cartwright off the board, the Tigers are likely to shift their attention to other tight end prospects or to evaluate whether another receiver-type can be developed into a similar role. For Oregon, the focus will turn to integrating a prospect who is already seen as a high-level tight end recruit and determining how the Ducks envision his path within the existing tight end room and offensive scheme.

For fans across the other finalist schools, Cartwright’s commitment also reshapes their recruiting priorities at tight end. Each program now has to determine whether to pursue another comparable prospect immediately or to adjust their class construction around different positional needs as the recruiting calendar moves deeper into the 2027 cycle.