Oregon linebacker Harrison Taggart enters transfer portal

The second Oregon linebacker this spring announced that he will transfer away from the program.

On Tuesday, Ducks’ redshirt freshman linebacker Harrison Taggart announced that he has entered the transfer portal.

Taggart is the sixth Duck this offseason to enter the portal, along with edge defender Anthony Jones, linebacker Keith Brown, defensive lineman Treven Ma’ae, cornerback Jalil Tucker, and safety Trejon Williams.

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— Harrison Taggart (@HarrisonTaggar4) April 26, 2023

A former 4-star signee in the class of 2022, Taggart appeared in three games and played nine defensive snaps last season before utilizing a redshirt. He has been a limited participant this spring due to injury.

According to the On3 Industry Ranking, Taggart was the No. 255 overall prospect and No. 26 linebacker in his class.

Taggart’s departure leaves the Ducks with just six scholarship linebackers. They added Iowa transfer Jestin Jacobs and Arizona State transfer Connor Soelle during the offseason, along with ’23 signee Jerry Mixon.

But the offseason departures of Noah Sewell, Justin Flowe, and Jackson LaDuke have thinned the Ducks’ overall depth at the position.

This spring, former defensive back Jamal Hill has shifted to linebacker and is expected to see significant playing time there next season.

Taggart’s departure puts Oregon’s scholarship count at 85.

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.