Former Oregon defensive tackle Keanu Williams commits to transfer to UCLA
Former Oregon defensive tackle Keanu Williams has found his next career stop.
Saturday evening, Williams announced that he has committed to transfer to UCLA. He joins tight end Moliki Matavao as the second former Duck to commit to the Bruins this offseason.
Williams entered the transfer portal on Jan. 16.
In 2022, Williams saw action in six and recorded two tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, he played 113 snaps — the 24th most among the Ducks’ defensive players.
A former 4-star signee, Williams was the No. 342 overall prospect and No. 32 defensive lineman in the class of 2021.
The Clovis, Calif., held offers from USC, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Tennessee, among many others, out of high school.
The Ducks are set to return all-conference defensive linemen Brandon Dorlus and Popo Aumavae next season, as well as a handful of other veteran players along the defensive front.
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.
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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.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.
