The Transfer Portal has been a game-changer in college football, and Oregon under Dan Lanning has used it as well as just about anyone. The Ducks have landed impact names like Bo Nix, Dante Moore, Bucky Irving and Dillon Thieneman, but not every splashy addition has paid off the way it looked like it would on paper.
A few of the misses have stood out because the expectations were so high before the season even started. When Oregon swings big in the portal, the buzz can be real. Sometimes, though, the production never comes close to matching it.
Makhi Hughes is the clearest example. Oregon went into last offseason needing help at running back after Jordan James moved on, and the Ducks made a major move by bringing in the Tulane star.
Hughes had piled up 2,779 rushing yards in two seasons with the Green Wave, and the hype machine treated him like a future centerpiece. Instead, he wound up on the outside looking in at a crowded running back room.
Once it became obvious he wasn’t going to play a major role, Hughes chose to redshirt and finished his Oregon stint in October with only 70 yards. For a player who arrived with preseason All-American buzz, that was a brutal outcome.
Isaiah World came in with a different kind of pressure. After Josh Conerly Jr. went in the 1st round of the NFL Draft, Oregon needed a tackle who could step in and stabilize the line.
The Ducks got one of the biggest names in the portal when they landed the Nevada transfer, who was widely praised by NFL evaluators and ranked as 24/7 Sports’ top overall transfer. World didn’t have a bad season, but he also never quite matched the level of expectation attached to him.
His toughest outings came against Penn State, Washington, Texas Tech, and Indiana, and his play was a factor in the only two losses. Oregon would have loved to develop him over a longer stretch, but he’s now off to the NFL.
Caleb Chapman rounds out the list. A highly recruited high school prospect, he signed with Texas A&M and showed enough early flashes to make him an appealing addition for Lanning’s first transfer class.
At Texas A&M, Chapman caught 28 passes for 413 yards and 3 touchdowns across his first two seasons. There was real intrigue around his size and upside, but injuries slowed him down early and those issues carried into his Oregon time.
He appeared in just 9 games for the Ducks and managed only 1 catch for 15 yards before entering the Transfer Portal again. With Bo Nix at quarterback, Oregon never got the payoff it hoped for from a receiver who seemed to have more in him.
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Davison and Hill combined for more than 1,500 scrimmage yards and 21 total touchdowns in 2025, and the Ducks are not stopping there. Colorado transfer Simeon Price has joined the mix, while freshmen Brandon Smith and Tradarian Ball are also in the room, giving Oregon a crowded competition for the next snaps and a depth chart that still has some sorting out to do. [Read more 🡒]
Dana Altman Suddenly Has Oregon Back In A Familiar Conversation
After a rough 2025-26 season that left Oregon at 12-20 overall and 5-15 in Big Ten play, the Ducks are suddenly back in a conversation they badly needed. CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein has pointed to Oregon as a potential sleeper in the league for 2026-27, and the reason is simple enough: the roster has been turned over almost completely through the transfer portal, giving Dana Altman a fresh group to work with in his 17th season.
Oregon lost eight players and brought in eight transfers, a makeover that gives Altman a chance to reset the program quickly rather than spend another year patching holes. Rothsteins view is that the Ducks could be one of the most improved teams in the Big Ten and have a path back to the NCAA Tournament, which is exactly the kind of expectation shift that can change the mood around a program before the season even starts. [Read more 🡒]