It's been a productive weekend on the recruiting trail for the Oregon Ducks, as the transfer portal has been kind to Dan Lanning's team.
Peyton Woodyard, a four-star safety who committed to Alabama as part of its 2024 recruiting class in December and enrolled in the school for the spring semester, entered the transfer portal in late April. He committed to the Ducks on Sunday. Woodyard is the second win for the Ducks this weekend, as Michigan State transfer defensive tackle Derrick Harmon committed to the Ducks on Friday.
247Sports' recruiting analyst Greg Biggins describes Woodyard as "a smart, heady safety with an extremely high football IQ."
Woodyard and Harmon are two massive additions for Oregon, which now ranks second in the 247Sports transfer portal team rankings, trailing only Ole Miss. The Ducks have added 14 players via the portal this offseason as they prepare for their first season in the Big Ten.
The biggest additions have been quarterback Dillon Gabriel from Oklahoma, former five-star receiver Evan Stewart from Texas A&M, and cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, who helped rival Washington win the Pac-12 and reach the College Football Playoff title game last year. Then there's former five-star quarterback Dante Moore, who comes to Oregon from UCLA. The Ducks are not just landing talent in the portal but plucking players from other top programs.
Ohio State is the favorite to win the Big Ten this season, but even with Michigan coming off a national title, many view the Ducks as the biggest threat to the Buckeyes in 2024. It would be a remarkable story for the Ducks to compete for a conference title in their first year in the league. It would certainly buck the trend of what normally happens when new schools enter one of the Power Four leagues, but with the way Oregon has recruited at both the high school level as well as in the portal, there may not be a team that's ever been in such a strong position to do so.
