Former Oregon tight end Terrell Tilmon commits to transfer to Texas Tech

After two seasons at Oregon, former Duck Terrell Tilmon has found his next career stop.

Tilmon, who entered the transfer portal on Dec. 4, announced on Thursday that he has committed to transfer to Texas Tech.

He is the third Oregon tight end to leave the program and commit to a new school during the current transfer cycle.

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— Terrell Tilmon🍐(Slim Predator) (@TTilmon16) January 19, 2023

A 6-foot-5, 221-pound former 3-star recruit in the class of 2021, Tilmon made the position switch from edge rusher to tight end last offseason but found himself buried behind a deep group of veterans.

He played in one game in 2022 and did not record a stat.

In the six weeks since Tilmon entered the portal, former Oregon tight ends Moliki Matavao and Cam McCormick have also transferred away from the program. Matavao committed to UCLA on Dec. 20 and McCormick committed to Miami on Jan. 15.

Oregon is set to return starting tight end Terrance Ferguson, as well as veteran reserve Patrick Herbert.

Kenyon Sadiq, a 4-star tight end in the class of 2023, has signed with the Ducks.

Oregon is scheduled to face Texas Tech in Lubbock in Week 2 next season. In addition to Tilmon, the Ducks will also face off with former starting quarterback Tyler Shough.

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.