Oregon offensive lineman Bram Walden enters transfer portal

Oregon redshirt freshman offensive lineman Bram Walden has entered the transfer portal, he announced Saturday in an Instagram post.

“I just want to thank the University of Oregon for making my experience for these last 2 years and I’ll always be grateful for this opportunity,” Walden wrote. “I want to thank all of the coaches, players, my family, friends and faculty that have made my time here truly special.

“I want to thank the man above for always having a plan for me and allowing me to be where I am today. With that being said, I am entering the transfer portal and I’m looking forward to furthering my academic and athletic career. Thank you! Go Ducks!”

A former 4-star recruit, Walden was the No. 87 overall prospect and the No. 11 offensive tackle in the class of 2021. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native held offers from Utah, USC, and countless other programs.

But he was hindered by injuries during much of his time at Oregon. Walden did not play in any games as a true freshman in 2021. This season, he played eight snaps in two games.

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.