Oregon defensive backs Jamal Hill, Steve Stephens IV will reportedly return for 2023 season
With the initial transfer portal deadline just a day away, a pair of key Oregon defensive backs are reportedly set to stick with the program and return for the 2023 season.
On Tuesday, James Crepea of The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that senior safety Steve Stephens IV and junior safety Jamal Hill.
Both Stephens and Hill played key roles for Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi’s defense last season and will be integral in 2023 as the Ducks work to replace starters Christian Gonzalez on Bennett Williams in the secondary.
As a fifth-year senior with the Ducks in 2022, Stephens started 10 games and recorded a career-high 43 tackles and two pass breakups. According to Pro Football Focus, he played 596 snaps, the seventh-most among Oregon defenders.
As a fourth-year junior last season, Hill started nine games and tied for fourth on the team with 50 tackles. He also forced a fumble and tallied three pass breakups. According to Pro Football Focus, Hill played 457 snaps, the ninth-most among Oregon defenders.
PFF issued Hill a tackling grade of 83.3 — the best among all Oregon players.
The Ducks are also set to return starting cornerback Trikweze Bridges in the secondary, as well as a plethora of key contributors in safety Bryan Addison and cornerbacks Dontae Manning and Jahlil Florence.
During the offseason, Oregon landed commitments from former Alabama cornerback Khyree Jackson and former Fresno State safety Evan Williams.
The only Ducks’ defensive back who has entered the portal this offseason is reserve safety Jonathan Flowe.
As of January 17, Oregon features 93 scholarship players on its roster and will need to trim its scholarship count to 85 before the start of next season.
**Oregon football 2023 scholarship distribution chart**
Transfer portal background information
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.
