Top 2026 recruit Brooklynn Haywood has committed to Oregon, she told Rivals. The 5-foot-9 point guard from Vancouver (Washington) Union High School chose the Ducks over Baylor and Utah. “Kelly Graves has come out with some great point guards,” Haywood told Rivals. “That’s kind of one of the things he’s known for is just having […]
Top 2026 recruit Brooklynn Haywood has committed to Oregon, she told Rivals. The 5-foot-9 point guard from Vancouver (Washington) Union High School chose the Ducks over Baylor and Utah.
“Kelly Graves has come out with some great point guards,” Haywood told Rivals. “That’s kind of one of the things he’s known for is just having amazing point guards with high IQs. Also, it’s close to home, so that was a plus. It’s two and a half hours from where I’m at now. I really love the campus and the coaches are amazing. I’m really close to Jerise [Freeman], because she was on the Utah staff…so her moving to Oregon was just perfect because I love her so much.”
Haywood also has a great relationship with head coach Kelly Graves. His honesty was one of her main draws to the program.
“One thing I will say about Coach Graves is, I don’t believe a lot of what people say to me sometimes, but I believe he’s being 100% honest with me. I think that was also a big reason why I trusted it so much, and I liked Oregon so much, is because I felt like everybody there was just being so honest. He and I have spent so much time on the phone just literally talking about anything, and I feel like that’s made our relationship pretty good, too, just because we know about each other and we just talk all the time.”
Beyond the relationships, Haywood can see herself fitting in seamlessly with the Ducks’ play style.
“I really like how they play in transition,” Haywood told Rivals. “Obviously their defensive intensity is super strong, and that really feeds into their transition offense. I love to play like that. That’s how I play. I just feel like watching them, the girls don’t think too much – you can tell when there’s a team on the court and they’re thinking too much, because there’s too many plays or too much of this, and I feel like they just play basketball. Obviously, there’s sets and plays and things like that, but it’s not so much to where they’re like robots or they don’t know what to do and so I just really love that they play like that.”
While her arrival on campus is still nearly a year away, there’s a lot to be excited about when Haywood looks to the future.
“I think their culture and just being around the girls too,” Haywood said. “I know Katie Fiso – I used to play with her my freshman year in AAU, and so she and I were pretty close. She was like an older sister to me and she really took me under her wing and kind of helped me get through that freshman year…So I’m just excited to be around her and I know that the rest of the team has to be just like that, right?…I’m just excited to be around the girls and have them help me learn how to go through college and deal with all this stuff.”
Category: General Sports
