Oregon extends offer to Austin Peay receiver Drae McCray

Oregon has extended an offer to one of the most productive FCS receivers in the nation.

Drae McCray, a standout sophomore at Austin Peay, announced on Wednesday that he has received an offer from the Ducks.

Thankful to receive an offer from Oregon @Locklyn33 @CoachDanLanning pic.twitter.com/Z8Ai53Xfhe

— Drae McCray (@draemccray24) November 30, 2022

Oregon is one of several programs that immediately extended an offer to McCray once he entered the transfer portal this afternoon.

Texas Tech, Louisville, Memphis, and Virginia Tech are among the schools that have already offered the former 3-star recruit.

A 5-foot-9, 177-pound receiver from Tallahassee, Fla., McCray ranks 12th among FCS players this season with 1,021 receiving yards on 76 catches this season.

As a true freshman last year,  he caught 53 passes for 882 receiving yards and eight touchdowns and garnered first-team all-OVC honors.

The Ducks will be looking to fill some significant holes at receiver. Chase Cota was Oregon’s second-most productive pass-catcher in 2022 and is set to graduate. Sophomore Dont’e Thornton, a former 4-star recruit, has announced his intention to enter the transfer portal.

Earlier this season, former 4-star recruit Seven McGee left the program and will enter the transfer portal.

The only two rotation receivers who are slated to return are sophomores Troy Franklin and Kris Hutson.

Oregon currently holds a commitment from 5-star receiver Jurrion Dickey, the No. 17 overall player in the class of 2023 according to the On3 Consensus.

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.