"Phil Knight will help me with it": $45 Billion-worth ‘Shoe Dog’ influenced Oregon Flip, says 5-star CB signee

Nike co-founder Phil Knight aka "Shoe Dog," whose net worth is $45 billion (via Forbes), wants the Oregon Ducks to win the national title. The shoe mogul influenced five-star cornerback Na'eem Offord to flip from Ohio State to Oregon.

Oregon released a commitment video for Offord, which included not just Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, but also Phil Knight himself, though the billionaire did not say anything during the video. Meanwhile, Offord described in an interview on CBS Sports on Wednesday how big of an impact Knight had with his flip.

"He played a big role, like a huge, big role," he said. "He's actually waiting on me to get up there, he's got a lot of stuff planned for me. He's gonna help me make my shoe."

Offord noted that while he finds NIL deals cool, he is more excited about what he could get from the Nike co-founder's endorsements.

"NIL is cool but anybody is gonna want endorsements," he told CBS Sports. "I'm gonna need endorsements all around and I feel like Phil Knight will help me with it. He can play a big role and help me with endorsements and marketing."

Oregon's Dan Lanning pushes back on school having "unlimited money" because of Phil Knight

Because of Phil Knight's enormous influence at Oregon, many other coaches and experts have been quite outspoken in pointing out the school's clear budget advantage, with many claiming that Oregon has "unlimited NIL" money.

However, Dan Lanning pushed back on the narrative, taking aim at several critics, including his former boss at Georgia, Kirby Smart, who has openly said he wanted a piece of that NIL money that the program is getting thanks to Knight.

"I think it's impressive that guys like Kirby (Smart) have been signing the No. 1 class in the nation without any NIL money this entire time," he said. "Obviously coach Smart took a little shot at us. If you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better have great support. We have that."

Oregon's 2025 Class has four five-star players, including elite wide receivers Dallas Wilson and Dakorien More, safety Trey McNutt, along with Offord. The school also managed to get four stars like quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and cornerback Dorian Brew.