by Mike Finnerty (mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com)
The much anticipated wait is finally over.
Pleasant Grove High School's 6'7, 285-pound All-American lineman Arik Armstead selected the University of Oregon as his college destination, and he'll not only play football at Oregon, but he'll play basketball as well.
"Oregon is an excellent school," said Armstead. "When I laid out all the options, pros and cons for every school, academics always comes up and I wanted to study sports medicine and sport marketing. If things didn't happen, and I didn't make it to the NFL or the NBA, or both, I have a fall back plan."
Armstead made his announcement Sunday afternoon at a press conference in front of a packed crowd at The House Church in Sacramento.
Over the past week, Armstead had home visits from several schools including Auburn, Cal, Notre Dame, USC, and Washington to name just a few, but a home visit with Oregon head coach Chip Kelly proved big for Armstead.
"I felt real comfortable with the program after having my in-home visit with coach Kelly and sometimes it comes down to a gut decision and I felt Oregon would be best for me," said Armstead.
The Sacramento Bee's Joe Davidson served as emcee of the press conference where Armstead told Davidson and the audience that he was impressed by Kelly's honesty when he asked Kelly how long he planned to remain the Oregon head coach.
Last week Kelly turned down an the head coaching job for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which prompted the inquiry by Armstead. Kelly responded by telling Armstead saying that he couldn't make any guarantees as to how long he would be the head coach at Oregon, and that honesty was appreciated by Armstead and his family.
As for his visit to Oregon, Armstead was impressed by both the athletic and academic opportunities.
"I had a real good trip there," said Armstead. "It's kind of like an SEC school on the West coast with the craziness of the fans, it's a small town. I had a real good trip there. They told me told about the business school in which I want to study in sports marketing, so the trip went real well."
For those who follow Armstead on Twitter, or have read the online commentary written by fans of colleges not selected by Armstead, the criticism in recent weeks has at times been harsh and over the top to say the least.
"I think I handled it pretty well. I didn't let it get to me too much. Just tried to control what I could control, and try to block out some of the intside influences and make the best of it as possible."
Armstead graduated from Pleasant Grove in early January and will head to Oregon in March.
With all the accomplishments and memorable moments that Armstead had as two-sport athlete at Pleasant Grove, he replied right away with a big smile and said, "Winning that section championship junior year and just enjoying the season with my teammates. In high school football you can't ever go back and do that again."