Former Oregon tight end Moliki Matavao commits to transfer to UCLA

Former Oregon tight end Moliki Matavao has found his next career stop and will be transferring to a direct rival.

Matavao announced on Tuesday that he has committed to transfer to UCLA.

Excited for this next chapter! pic.twitter.com/EZDoluRVed

— Moliki Matavao (@MatavaoMoliki) December 20, 2022

A former 4-star recruit, Matavao was the No. 165 overall prospect and the No. 5 tight end in the class of 2021. He made an immediate impact alongside fellow ’21 tight end signee Terrance Ferguson last season as a true freshman.

In 12 games this season, Matavao improved numerous aspects of his game and caught 10 passes for 134 yards and one touchdown. According to Pro Football Focus, Motavao played 336 snaps in 2022 — the second most among Oregon’s tight ends, and 44 fewer than Ferguson.

The Ducks are set to return Ferguson and fourth-year sophomore Patrick Herbert. Seventh-year senior Cam McCormick is also eligible to return for an eighth season but he said earlier this fall that he has not decided if he will do so.

Reserve tight end Terrell Tilmon also opted to enter the portal earlier this month.

Kenyon Sadiq, a 4-star tight end in the class of 2023, is currently committed to Oregon.

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.