Oregon State running back enters transfer portal

One of Oregon State’s top rushers from last season is now a free agent.

Running back Jam Griffin, who transferred to the Beavers from Georgia Tech last year, has re-entered the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned.

Griffin ranked third on Oregon State with 488 rushing yards last season as part of a Beavers team that finished last year 10-3, including 6-3 in Pac-12 play. He ran for an individual season-high 84 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries during a 17-14 loss to USC. He also ran for 75 yards in wins over Stanford and then-No. 9 Oregon. It came after he posted 377 total rushing yards the previous three seasons at Georgia Tech.

Potentially factoring into Griffin’s decision is that the two Oregon State running backs who finished with more rushing yards than him last season, Damien Martinez and Deshaun Fenwick, are both back and still part of the program. Martinez led the Beavers with 982 rushing yards last year and had seven rushing touchdowns. Fenwick posted 553 rushing yards and seven rushing TDs.

With those three, Oregon State was one of only two Pac-12 teams to have three different running backs with at least 450 rushing yards last season.

This year’s Beavers offense could have a different look, though, with Oregon State adding former Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei as a transfer this offseason. That could help and change an offense that ranked second-worst in the Pac-12 in passing offense last year.

Uiagalelei has been part of an ongoing competition for the Beavers starting QB job with most notably Ben Gulbranson, who made eight starts for Oregon State last season.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

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.

Track transfer portal activity

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 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.