Why Oregon ranks football among best in roster retention in transfer era

It can be difficult to build a roster in the Transfer Portal era, with players coming and going easier than ever before. Despite that, the Oregon Ducks have maintained a talented roster throughout the era.

ScoopDuck‘s Justin Hopkins broke down that excellent portal usage and why Oregon has been able to rank among the best teams in roster retention, only losing a couple of players who they wanted to keep.

“I feel like, at least from the sources, there’s two guys that have left the program in the last three years that Oregon would have liked to keep,” Justin Hopkins said. “And if you look at the numbers, that’s a really good percentage. That’s a great hit rate, but DJ James going to Auburn, had a great career down there, was a great player. Moliki Matavao went to UCLA a couple seasons ago and had mixed results there. Those were two guys. But, otherwise, you’re looking at Oregon, they do such a tremendous job of retention and I feel like a broken record.”

In the 2024 cycle, Oregon has the sixth-ranked transfer class, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That’s a season after the Ducks were 16th in the country. This current year’s class has 15 players leaving the program and 11 entering it.

At least part of Oregon’s success in this area has been, according to Hopkins, because of the program’s NIL operation.

“But Oregon is so well put together on the NIL front from a team perspective. That’s what a lot of people ignore. You think of NIL and you think of recruiting and getting players on campus. Yeah, that’s part of it and you’ve got to be well funded and organized there,” Hopkins said.

“But Oregon is so organized, at least from an NIL standpoint, of the existing players on the team. They rarely, if ever, lose anybody that they truly want to keep.”

Dan Lanning says Oregon wants to enhance roster through Transfer Portal

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning explained when the Transfer Portal first opened this Spring that the team is looking to enhance the roster through the portal.

Right now I feel really good about our team, but on the same note, if there’s something that can enhance our team, make us better with the right character fit, with the right pieces, then that’s something we have to keep our eyes open to,” Lanning said.

“Retention’s really big, right? It’s about retaining the right guys, the guys that are out there trying to get better, trying to improve, give our team an opportunity to win.”