It started with one duck emoji. Then another. Then another. Then another. Now we’re up to six ducks.

Every time Oregon coach Dan Lanning pulls out his phone, opens the trusty Twitter application and loads up a post with a duck emoji in it, it signifies that Oregon has picked up another commitment. And these aren’t just three-star, forgettable ducks. These are the new Oregon Ducks.

There has been no bigger winner on this first day of the early signing period than Lanning and Oregon. The Ducks opened the day by flipping four-star quarterback Austin Novosad of Dripping Springs (Texas) High from Baylor. Then they flipped five-star safety Peyton Bowen of Denton (Texas) Guyer from Notre Dame — though they were still awaiting his paperwork as of late Wednesday afternoon. Then they landed a commitment from five-star defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco over USC and Ohio State. Then they flipped four-star cornerback Daylen Austin of Long Beach (Calif.) Poly from LSU.

You may have lost count, but that’s four new Ducks, including three five-star prospects. The other two are four-star running back Jayden Limar of Lake Stevens (Wash.) High and three-star athlete Solomon Davis of Covina (Calif.) Charter Oak. There is also speculation that Oregon could also be in on five-star defensive lineman David Hicks of Katy (Texas) Paetow, who is currently committed to Texas A&M. Hicks is signing Friday.

The SEC has made its way to Eugene. And people don’t like it.

This was full-on recruiting warfare. Think about the programs Oregon pillaged Wednesday: Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, LSU, the list goes on. These are the new Ducks, the ones who are going to stack their roster with elite-level talent because that’s what it takes to win a national championship. More importantly, they have a coach with an SEC background — straight from the Georgia pipeline — who knows exactly what a national championship roster has to look like.

With every Duck tweet from Lanning came the expected responses from jaded fans of opposing programs who were secretly — or not so secretly — jealous that their teams couldn’t get the job done Wednesday. It’s the normal fan temperament on days like this: “My team does everything by the book, and your team is cheating.” Then, when their team does something they were complaining about, it’s either crickets or rationalization. It’s a story as old as time, and certainly older than the days of NIL and legal compensation.