Oregon lands commitment from former Arizona State linebacker Connor Soelle
Oregon has dipped back into the transfer portal to add depth at a position of need.
On Sunday, former Arizona State linebacker Connor Soelle announced on Twitter that he has committed to transfer to Oregon.
After four years with the Sun Devils, the Scottsdale, Ariz., native has opted to spend the 2023 season playing under Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi at Oregon.
Soelle recorded 52 tackles, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup during his time at ASU.
According to Pro Football Focus, Soelle played 188 snaps in 12 games with the Sun Devils last season, the 17th-most among the program’s defensive players.
A former 3-star recruit, Soelle was the No. 868 prospect in the class of 2019 according to the On3 Consensus.
The addition of Soelle to Oregon’s roster comes after star linebacker Noah Sewell announced last month that he will enter the 2023 NFL Draft. Justin Flowe, a former 5-star recruit who played a reserve role last season, entered the transfer portal in December and has since committed to Arizona.
Reserve linebacker Jackson LaDuke transferred to the University of Nevada, Reno, in December.
The Ducks added former Iowa linebacker Jestin Jacobs in the offseason.
**Oregon Transfer Portal Tracker: Who’s in and who’s out?**
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.
