Should Oregon shop for a linebacker in the portal?

The NCAA spring transfer portal closes today, meaning that it's the last day for players to enter until they win another court case.

Thus far only three Ducks have entered, third-team cornerback Rodrick Pleasant, backup punter Luke Dunne, and walk-on slot receiver/running back Preston Alford.

One possible need for the Ducks might be linebacker, where the team has seven on scholarship, senior starter Bryce Boettcher, junior Devon Jackson, who played in 14 games last season and started one, junior Jerry Mixon, who's played in a reserve and special teams role totaling 19 games.

That's it for experience. The rest of the group has talent but hasn't seen the field much:

4-star Brayden Platt, redshirt freshman

4-star Kamar Mothudi redshirt freshman

4-star Dylan Williams redshirt freshman

4-star Gavin Nix, a true freshman and early enrollee

Position coach Brian Michalowski seems deeply committed to their development. After practice last weekend he expressed a lot of confidence in their progress and athletic ability.

With today being the last day there's likely to be a flood of new entrants into the spring portal, which has already swelled to over 3000 players. So far the three most intriguing names at linebacker are:

Andrew Simpson, Boise State, 6-1 220 from St. John Bosco, 45 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 forced fumbles in 2024
Amare Campbell, 6-0, 230 from North Carolina. Had 45 tackles and 6.5 sacks last year.
Harrison Taggart BYU. 6-1, 230, a former Duck who had 69 tackles and a sack as a junior.

“I take a lot of pride in developing guys.If I'm having to go to the portal, what's that say about me as a coach when it comes to development? I take a lot of pride in building from the bottom up, and I think it's a position that with as much leadership as we have to have and experience in communicating, that's the best way to do it at the inside linebacker position. The young guys have done just a phenomenal job." ----Brian Michalowski, Oregon Linebackers Coach

Michalowski seems very committed to the guys he has, but football is a game of numbers. The Ducks will no doubt comb the portal for at least a depth player or special teams guy like Conner Soelle two seasons ago. They'd be foolish not to, although the talent and potential in the room is excellent.

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