Oregon and Indiana Have the Secret Sauce for the Transfer Portal

Portal season is upon us, and this is probably the most chaotic and dramatic transfer portal we have ever seen. The Demond Williams Jr story has everyone in the sports world buzzing. Massive checks are being cut for players. Everyone is seeing the success of Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss and Miami and they want in.

It seems like college football is finally waking up to the current landscape of talent acquisition and evaluation. They see four teams that are perceived to have been built through the portal, and they want to replicate that success. Ole Miss had the #3 transfer class for 2025, Oregon had #4, and Miami had #5. The Hoosiers had the 13^th best class.

Now, Oregon and Indiana are set to face off tomorrow with two transfer quarterbacks, one of them the Heisman Trophy winner, and a couple dozen other high valued players that were acquired through the portal. But is it as easy as just opening the vault and handing out cash to bring in star players?

There’s a secret sauce behind the success of Oregon and Indiana, and that’s being overlooked by other teams and the media.

Transfers Will Succeed if You Have a Solid Foundation

Yes, it’s true that both Oregon and Indiana have found significant success through the portal. Fernando Mendoza just won the Heisman, Dante Moore is projected to be a top 2 or 3 pick in the draft, and there are a number of other players on both rosters that will go in the first 2 or 3 rounds this April.

A lot of those players have seen their draft stock skyrocket since joining their current teams. That success would not have been possible without two of the best coaching staffs in the country and a solid foundation of experienced teammates and a culture of winning.

Dante Moore spent a year standing on the sideline, watching Dillon Gabriel and learning the Oregon system. Would he have been able to replicate this same success without that time to adjust? And while three members of the offensive line are first-year transfers (Emmanuel Pregnon, Alex Harkey, and Isaiah World), would they have been Joe Moore Award finalists without their Rimington Award finalist center, Iapani Laloulu? Poncho is in his third year with the Ducks.

It’s important to have guys on the team who have been with the program for 3 to 4 years. Guys who have fully bought into the culture. Who can impress upon new transfers and incoming freshmen what it means to be an Oregon Duck. Dan Lanning has worked very hard to establish a winning culture, but also a culture of family and camaraderie. That might seem cliché, but based on what the players have said, it’s not as common as you’d think.

Mixing Talent with Experience

If you look at the top 20 players by snap count this season, 12 of Oregon’s offensive players are homegrown and 8 are transfers. Of those eight, five are first-year Ducks. The other three have been with the team for most of their careers. Gary Braynt Jr has been with Oregon for 3 years. Noah Whittington has been on the team for 4 years. They are both pivotal pieces in leading this team and their respective position groups.

You can mix in guys from the portal or recruiting because you know that they can lean on players who have been here. Jamari Johnson can learn from Kenyon Sadiq at tight end because Sadiq has been with the Ducks for 3 seasons. Dierre Hill Jr and Jordon Davison can learn from Whittington. At wide receiver you have Bryant Jr to mentor Malik Benson and Dakorien Moore.

The defense is almost entirely home grown. Out of the top 20 guys in snap count, only 4 players are transfers. The others are all career Ducks. Lanning and Tosh Lupoi merely sprinkled in some key guys this season, with Dillon Thieneman at safety, Jadon Canady at nickel, and Bear Alexander on the interior D line.

Same Story With Indiana – But with a Shorter Timeline

With Indiana, you have a higher percentage of transfers in the top 20. It’s an even 50/50 split of homegrown talent and transfers for the Hoosiers. But while there might be more transfers overall, the key players have been with Curt Cignetti for years. They know the system. They might not have been at Indiana the whole time, but they know what is expected of them.

Wide receiver Elijah Sarratt and running back Kaelon Black both came over with Cignetti from James Madison. So did Aiden Fisher at linebacker, D’Angelo Ponds at cornerback, and Mikail Kamara at edge. Many of the key players on this Indiana team are either JMU transfers or homegrown talent from the Hoosiers.

That level of stability and experience allows Cignetti to bring in a guy like Mendoza and hand him the keys to the offense. Just like Will Stein giving Dante Moore a well-oiled machine this season.

It Can’t Be All About Money

As the market continues to evolve, and desperate teams cut bigger and bigger checks, it can’t be entirely about money. At some point a program will have to make a decision to move on from a player that’s demanding too much. Despite what some people seem to think, the funds are not infinite.

Jake Butt from the Big Ten Network had a really great point on X, “the money isn’t recycled. It’s not a sustainable business model. NIL, as it’s currently laid out, is donation based. And these donations are not tax deductible. It’s simply impossible to expect $20-$30-$50M checks to continue to be written each year, when the only return to those “investors” is getting to see their favorite team “maybe” win.”

There are a lot of excited boosters right now who look at Oregon and Indiana and Ole Miss and think, “I can do that. I can write a check and my team will change overnight.” We are seeing that play out with Texas Tech as we speak. They’re doubling down on the portal, and it very well might succeed. Only time will tell.

From where I’m sitting, Oregon and Indiana aren’t in this position because they cut a check. They are playing to get into the national championship because they were early adopters. These two teams embraced the portal when teams like Alabama and Georgia did not. Their staffs have exceptional talent evaluation, they bring in guys who fit their system and their culture and they coach them up.

Talent Evaluation is King

For every highly ranked transfer guy like Dillon Thieneman and Isaiah World, who were ranked 5^th and 6^th in the 2025 class, the Ducks also brought in players like Malik Benson and Jadon Canady. Those two have been absolutely critical to the success of the team this year. So has Jamari Johnson, and he could very well be the best tight end in the 2027 draft class.

Benson was ranked as the 37^th best wideout in the class, and the 192^nd best player overall. Johnson was the 15^th best tight end and 414^th overall. Canady was the 16^th best cornerback in the portal, and 263^rd best player overall. Three above-the-line players who have had a massive impact on the Ducks’ season.

For Indiana, they got Mendoza who was ranked 12^th in the class, but they also brought in Pat Coogan from Notre Dame. He was the 54^th best offensive tackle and the 639^th best player in the portal. Roman Hemby transferred from Maryland and he was the 1,586 best player nationally. Their tight end, Riley Nowakowski, wasn’t even ranked.

The Portal isn’t Done Evolving

Teams can spend money to plug holes. The Ducks certainly did that with their offensive line and their secondary, but they have to be a good fit and you need to also be able to find undervalued players who can contribute.

The portal is ever evolving. This is just the current form, and it probably won’t last forever. As Jake Butt said, boosters will get tired of spending money if they don’t see results, and not everyone will see results.

There is only one Dan Lanning and one Curt Cignetti, after all.