Junior Day Report: Chase Cota

MORE: Detailed recruiting and player notes from Junior Day and The Opening Oakland

As is the case with top cornerback target Elijah Molden in the 2017 class, Stanford is making a push for one of the state of Oregon's top prospects in 2018 - who also happens to have strong family connections to the University of Oregon.

Like Molden, whose father played for the Ducks and in the NFL, South Medford High School receiver Chase Cota is an Oregon (and NFL) gridiron legacy who has interest in Stanford. Cota took his first trip to The Farm last weekend to participate in Stanford's Junior Day.

"It was really good," Cota said. "I got to meet the receivers coach, Coach Shaw and all those guys and tour campus. It was pretty beautiful - it was a great place."

Cota particularly enjoyed getting to know his potential future position coach, Tavita Pritchard, who also recruits the Northwest for Stanford.

"We got to spend a lot of time one-on-one with the receivers coach, Coach Pritchard, and for like 15 minutes in the locker room just getting to know him better," Cota said. "That was probably my favorite part."

Stanford's coaching staff emphasized the variety of opportunities a Stanford football experience has to offer during their conversations with Cota.

"(Their) message was you get the best of both worlds - football and academics, which is pretty obvious," Cota said. "All the smartest people in the world have pretty much come out of there. And then they've won the Pac-12 championship three of the last (four) years. So it's a big deal if you get an offer from there."

Cota currently holds offers from Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State. The next step in Cota's recruitment with Stanford will be a return trip to campus for camp next month.

"With the evaluation they said they want me to come to their camp on the 14th," Cota said. "So if I do really well at that the receivers coach seemed pretty confident in maybe giving me a scholarship soon."

Cota does intend to make the trip.

"That's one I'd love to get," he said.

"(A Stanford offer) definitely would put them high in my interest. I haven't limited down (my list of schools) in my mind yet, but why not? (Stanford's) close to home, a really good school."