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QuickTake:
It wasn’t Oregon’s most prolific offseason in the portal, but it didn’t need to be.
It’s true: The Oregon Ducks football team isn’t as reliant on the transfer portal as it was in coach Dan Lanning’s early years.
Four seasons of elite recruiting have balanced the scales, meaning it’s nearly as likely for a recruited-and-developed Oregon talent to make a crucial play as it is someone arriving as a mercenary.
That being said, here’s a list of players we wrote about — a lot — in 2025:
- Bear Alexander
- Dillon Thieneman
- Malik Benson
- James Ferguson-Reynolds
- Isaiah World
- Jamari Johnson
- Oh, and that Dante Moore guy
All were portal additions from the last two years. And each played a role in Oregon’s run to the Peach Bowl in 2025.
If the Ducks go even further in 2026, there will be some new names in the mix.
With Oregon’s portal movement all but complete for the 2026 offseason cycle, here are a few thoughts on the players you need to know, the ones the Ducks lost and some trends we’ve found.
First, a few numbers:
- Oregon added 16 players in this offseason’s transfer portal — five more than last year.
- Oregon lost 30 players in this year’s offseason portal — 12 more than last year.
- Oregon ranks 29th in the On3 transfer portal rankings for 2026. The Ducks ranked fourth in 2025 and fifth in 2024.
Ready up the Koi pond
Thieneman quickly became a fan favorite in his one year in Eugene. While the safety is now preparing for the NFL, the Ducks found about as close to a plug-and-play replacement as you can get.
Minnesota safety Koi Perich arrives after compiling 128 tackles, six interceptions, four passes defended, two forced fumbles and a sack in two seasons with the Golden Gophers. He’s dangerous on defense, but his versatility sets him apart. Perich can run routes as a receiver and has returned 40 punts for 306 yards in his career.
“He’s one of the better playmakers with the ball in his hands,” Minnesota coach PJ Fleck said. “He just happens to play defense.”
He also probably doesn’t want to be in Eugene for long.
“My dream was to play for the Vikings,” Perich said last year. “I would just skip through college if I could and go straight to the Vikings. But you’ve got to do your three years. I’m willing to do it.”
The Ducks made two other notable additions to the secondary.
Aaron Scott Jr. is a former five-star cornerback in the 2024 class who spent the last two seasons at Ohio State. In 19 games, Scott tallied 11 tackles, a tackle for loss and two pass breakups.
They also landed Carl Williams IV, a 6-foot-1, 192-pound defensive back from Baylor with two seasons of eligibility remaining. Williams missed all but one game in 2025 due to injury. In 2024, he recorded 32 tackles (five for loss), one sack, one pass breakup and one forced fumble in seven games.
The right Price
The Ducks hit big in last year’s portal. But they weren’t perfect. The most notable miss was Makhi Hughes.
To be fair, we all missed there. The Tulane transfer was a preseason All-Big Ten selection, then finished his lone season in Eugene with 17 carries for 70 yards before electing to redshirt after not traveling to the Penn State game.
This didn’t truly hurt the Ducks until the Peach Bowl, when injuries left Oregon down to Jay Harris on the depth chart — and part of Hughes’ miss was simply because true freshman Jordon Davison was that good.
Davison rushed for 667 yards and 15 touchdowns — and he returns in 2026. So does Dierre Hill Jr., another true freshman standout who totaled 656 yards and five touchdowns in 2025.
Oregon didn’t need a bell-cow running back this cycle, but it did need depth after losing Hughes, Harris and Jayden Limar to the portal and Noah Whittington to graduation.
Enter Simeon Price.
Price will be on his fourth team — previously Mississippi State, Coastal Carolina and Colorado — and has appeared in 38 career games. He has never rushed for more than 68 yards in a game, but the 6-foot, 215-pound Florida native averaged 6.8 yards per carry in 2025 before his season ended after four games due to injury.
Filling out the depth on the lines
In past seasons, Oregon had to completely retool its offensive and defensive lines. This year, the Ducks return two starters on the offensive line and appear content to replace most losses with in-house talent.
Oregon did add Yale lineman Michael Bennett, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound senior.
On the defensive line, the story of the offseason has been the returns of A’Mauri Washington, Bear Alexander and Matayo Uiagalelei.
That returning production is a boon — but it also led to the departure of seven defensive linemen to the portal.
The Ducks countered by signing Derrick Brown Jr. from Howard, Bleu Dantzler from Oregon State, Jerome Simmons from Louisiana-Monroe and D’Antre Robinson.
While much of the need here is depth, Robinson could offer more than just a breather. The 6-foot-4, 315-pound lineman has two years of eligibility remaining and has already played in 19 career games. Last season at North Carolina, Robinson recorded 39 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and half a sack.
On the horizon
The No. 1 team in the portal per On3? That would be your national champion Indiana Hoosiers, who are replacing much of last year’s roster in order to defend their first national championship.
The Big Ten’s No. 2 portal team, UCLA, finished No. 11 — largely by volume, as the Bruins brought in 41 players via the portal. No. 3 Wisconsin placed 16th, and No. 4 Purdue came in ahead of the Ducks at No. 22.
Ohio State? The Buckeyes finished eighth in the Big Ten, 35th nationally and, like Oregon, seem happy to let the fruits of successive top-five recruiting classes go to work.