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Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
One year ago, Oregon defensive tackle Derrick Harmon was stuffing the run for Michigan State. Kobe Savage was intercepting passes for Kansas State. Jabbar Muhammad was manning cornerback in the national championship for Washington. Evan Stewart was hauling in catches for Texas A&M. And Dillon Gabriel, of course, was throwing touchdown passes for Oklahoma.
Oregon doesn’t want to be known as Transfer Portal U. Coach Dan Lanning’s No. 1-ranked Ducks, after all, boast loads of homegrown talent, including leading rusher Jordan James and leading tackler Bryce Boettcher, who also stars for the Oregon baseball team.
Earlier this year, the Ducks inked the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class. Oregon’s 2025 recruiting class is currently ranked seventh. And the Ducks already have landed six ESPN 300 commitments from the Class of 2026.
But in its debut season in the Big Ten, Oregon has jumped to an 8-0 start heading into Saturday’s trip to Michigan behind the play of several key FBS transfers from the past two years. In fact, 14 of the Ducks’ 22 offensive and defensive starters played elsewhere in 2022, including their entire starting receiving corps, starting defensive line and starting secondary.
Even Oregon’s Atticus Sappington, who nailed the game-winning field goal against Ohio State on Oct. 12, kicked for rival Oregon State last year.
“Everybody here is grateful,” said Ducks leading receiver Tez Johnson, who transferred in from Troy a year ago, then set an Oregon record with 86 receptions last season. “No one takes it for granted.”
Per ESPN Research, Arizona State and Virginia Tech are the only other Power 4 programs whose starting receiving lineups are comprised entirely of transfers.
Colorado, Indiana and SMU are the other Power 4 teams with all-transfer starting defensive lines. UCLA, Louisville and Houston join the Ducks as the other Power 4 all-transfer starting defensive backfields.
Lanning has said that while he wants to build Oregon through its recruiting classes, he’s always looking for the “right pieces” with the “right character fit” in the portal who can enhance the team.
The Ducks have gotten just that from an array of transfers who, collectively, have helped Oregon become a legit national title contender.
“We’ve got a lot of veteran guys, who’ve played a lot of ball, who understand our roles,” said Savage, who had a team-high eight tackles in Oregon’s thrilling 32-31 win over the Buckeyes. “A lot of us have one year left. We’re all in it to play a great brand of football, to showcase our abilities and talents for the next level and to bring a national championship to Oregon.”
Those factors, combined with a robust NIL operation, have drawn several talented transfers to Eugene over the past two years.
When Washington coach Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama to replace Nick Saban after the national title game, Muhammad said he considered following him to Tuscaloosa. But then, immediately after he entered the portal, Muhammad got a text from Johnson, who told him, “Bro, we need you at Oregon.” Johnson, who knew what Muhammad could do after facing him twice — once in the regular season and then again in the Pac-12 championship — texted Lanning next.
“Coach said, ‘We’re going to get him,'” Johnson recalled. “I’m going to call him right now.”
Lanning followed up by FaceTiming Muhammad every day until he committed to the Ducks.
“It’s been a match made in heaven,” said Muhammad, who leads Oregon with seven pass breakups. “That a group of guys could transfer in and jell like this with the rest of the team so fast is kind of crazy. It’s actually not normal. … We’ve put our differences to the side, egos to the side and have come together and meshed.”
Muhammad and others said Oregon’s “get real” sessions over the offseason helped fast-track the chemistry now manifesting on the field. Once a week, the players would gather in rotating small groups of around a dozen, discussing a different topic each time. Harmon said the most memorable subject centered around the question, “What’s your why?”
“The first day I got here, I knew it was different,” said Harmon, who ripped the ball away from running back Quinshon Judkins in the Ducks’ win over Ohio State, leading to Oregon’s first touchdown. “Learning about a guy’s backstory, learning how a guy grew up or how a guy got here through the portal and what he had to go through … little details like that that you probably wouldn’t know. But now that you do, you just play a little bit harder for the guy.”
With so many new pieces, the Ducks still got off to a slow start. They narrowly defeated Idaho in the opener, then got a scare from Boise State.
From there, Oregon has surged, with its victory over Ohio State helping to catapult the Ducks to the top of the polls.
Gabriel, who has since returned to the forefront of the Heisman conversation alongside Colorado wideout/cornerback Travis Hunter and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, has quickly generated a rapport with Johnson and the other receivers. The defense, meanwhile, has surrendered more than 14 points just twice this season. The past two weeks, Oregon outscored Purdue and No. 24 Illinois 73-9 combined.
“We definitely had some growing pains — we were a completely different team with new people on both sides of the ball,” Savage said. “But I feel like we’ve really started clicking.”
Spearheaded by its transfers, Oregon’s first playoff appearance in a decade is within sight. And perhaps, the school’s first national championship, too.
“Personally, I don’t feel like we’re nowhere near our peak,” Harmon said. “We’re just scratching the surface. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. But once we hit that peak, people are going to know it.”