Oregon Ducks defensive lineman enters transfer portal

The Oregon Ducks have lost a contributor on their defense from last season. According to Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports, Oregon defensive lineman Kristian Williams has entered the transfer portal.

The redshirted freshman, soon-to-be sophomore, has elected to move on from the program as of Tuesday. The six-foot-two defensive tackle from Memphis, TN, played in nine games last season for the Ducks. Through those nine games, he recorded 16 total tackles, three of them solo, and batted down one pass.

If Williams entered his name to transfer after the May 1 deadline, he will require a waiver from the NCAA offices to suit up in the 2022 season. Without that waiver, any school he elects to transfer to will have to wait until after next season before he can suit up and play. However, whenever a player enters their name into the portal the school has two days to process the request, Willams could’ve entered his name prior to the deadline in which case he will be eligible to play without a waiver next season.

Transfer portal background information 

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be  contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.