Report: Oregon receiver Seven McGee to enter transfer portal

According to a report, Oregon sophomore receiver Seven McGee is no longer with the Oregon program and is expected to enter the transfer portal.

On3’s Matt Zenitz reported Monday morning that McGee currently is not with the team and will enter the portal in December.

In seven games this season, McGee has caught 11 passes for 67 yards. He has also returned six kicks for 99 yards.

McGee came to Oregon as a running back, and played there sparingly as true freshman before making a midseason switch to receiver. This season, he was expected to be in the mix for playing time and compete with Kris Hutson for the starting job at slot receiver.

But he has played just 101 snaps throughout Oregon’s first eight games, which ranks fifth among Oregon receivers and well behind starters Chase Cota (412), Troy Franklin (410), and Hutson (296).

During Oregon’s Week 8 win over Cal, McGee was not in uniform and it was reported by several outlets that he did not make the trip to Berkeley.

Last December, McGee entered the transfer portal following the departure of Mario Cristobal and his staff, but quickly reversed course hours later and announced he was staying at Oregon. McGee cited a conversation with Dan Lanning as a major factor in his decision to stay.

A former 4-star recruit who was the No. 175 overall prospect in the class of 2021, McGee established himself as a fan favorite long before he set foot in Eugene thanks in large part to his outgoing personality and support of the Oregon program via social media.

At the time of his report, McGee’s departure from the program has not been confirmed by the University of Oregon.

About the transfer portal, Seven McGee’s departure

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.