After a weekend visit Oregon added 6-4, 315 defensive tackle D'Antre Robinson Monday, a transfer from North Carolina who started his career at Florida.
A junior from Orlando, Robinson had 55 tackles in two seasons,1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. His commitment allows the Ducks to rebuild their rotation in the defensive trenches after losing Tionne Gray, Terrance Green, Xadavien Sims and Jericho Johnson in the portal, plus defensive ends Ashton Porter, Tobi Haastrup and Blake Purchase.
The team added 6-5, 340 Jerome Simmons from the University of Louisiana-Monroe over the weekend. Along with their additions in the 2026 recruiting class, notably edge rusher Tank Jones and down lineman Tony Cumberland, the team will have a full three-deep on the defensive line.
It helps too that promising edge rushers Nasir Wyatt and Elijaah rushing stayed with the program during the Transfer Portal carnage. It takes numbers to survive a 16-game season and fresh bodies to get through September wearing wearing the starters down.
Oregon returns four seniors on the starting defensive line, all with NFL talent: Bear Alexander, A'Mauri Washington, Teitum Tuioti and Matayo Uiagalelei. They're a big reason why the team remains high in preseason polls, betting markets and the way-too-early national championship forecasts.
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While it's good to be in the conversation, it doesn't mean a thing unless Dan Lanning finds a way to break through against other national powers. Over the last three years Oregon's only losses have come against teams that either played in or won the national championship. That's a lot of winning but ultimate failure, on repeat.
Robinson has two years of eligibility remaining. He came on late this season with seven tackles against Wake Forest and five against Duke in November. He'll be 24 in May and played varsity basketball at Jones High School in Orlando, a good athlete ranked the No. 262 prospect in the country in the class of 2024.
He was UNC's highest-rated run defender according to PFF with a grade of 72.8. In 2025 he totaled 2.5 tackles for loss. The Ducks edged out Auburn to sign him. Having escaped the Bill Belichick circus, perhaps he can blossom the way Alexander did after moving on from USC.