QUACK: Oregon Lands Portal Transfer Quarterback

The Ducks didn’t waste any time finding a quarterback in the transfer portal. On Monday morning Oklahoma starter Dillon Gabriel announced he was entering the transfer portal. Before the end of the week he was on campus in Eugene and made a commitment.

MARCUS APPROVED! 🎱 #DIMETIME pic.twitter.com/GZUgZVS5rw

— Dillon Gabriel (@_dillongabriel_) December 9, 2023

Gabriel comes to Oregon with over 1,000 completions and 14,000 passing yards at the collegiate level. He only has one final year of eligibility. He is Oregon’s first transfer portal commitment of the 2024 class.

Given his starting experience at the highest level, it’s going to be hard to imagine Gabriel is not the starter for week one of the 2024 season against Hawaii.

It remains to be seen if Oregon will target any additional quarterbacks in the transfer portal. Also fans and media wonder if this is the time Ty Thompson decides to enter the transfer portal and continue his career elsewhere.

Tracking Transfer Portal Activity

As of December 7th, 1,385 FBS players have entered the Transfer Portal.

While the NCAA Transfer Portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement. If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Industry recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

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.