Former Oregon tight end Cam McCormick commits to transfer to Miami

Cam McCormick has officially closed the book on his Oregon career and will reunite with a former Ducks’ head coach at his next career stop.

McCormick, a senior tight end who was recently granted an eighth and ninth season of college eligibility, announced on Sunday that he has committed to transfer to Miami.

McCormick will spend the 2023 season playing for former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal.

Decisions made! 🙌🏽 Back with the fam! #gocanes pic.twitter.com/hoYVt1a7At

— Cam (@McCormick_Cam) January 15, 2023

McCormick has endured a plethora of injuries during his time with the Ducks but had his healthiest and most productive campaign in 2022.

It came as a surprise to many fans who follow the program closely when he announced earlier this month that he had opted to enter the transfer portal.

He played the third-most snaps of Oregon’s tight ends and caught 10 passes for 66 yards and three touchdowns while also serving as a standout blocker.

In 22 career games with the Ducks, McCormick caught 18 passes for 169 yards and four touchdowns.

The Ducks are set to return starter Terrance Ferguson and fifth-year junior Patrick Herbert at tight end next season. Sophomore Moliki Matavao entered the transfer portal this offseason and has since committed to UCLA.

The Ducks have also signed Kenyon Sadiq, a 4-star tight end in the class of 2023.

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.

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.