Tag: Jabbar Muhammad

Report: Alabama transfer S Peyton Woodward to take Oregon visit

Alabama transfer Peyton Woodward is set to visit Oregon this coming weekend, per report.

The spring transfer portal has been quiet for the Oregon Ducks. At least, the Ducks have been quiet relative to their habits in past portal windows. One exception could be Peyton Woodward, a safety who joined the Alabama Crimson Tide in the class of 2024.

Woodyard entered the portal on Monday with a “do-not-contact tag” at the tail end of his first spring football season. A do-not-contact tag typically means the player already has their next school picked out, and as Pete Nakos reported Tuesday morning, Oregon is the favorite to land Woodyard.

The Ducks put a lot of recruiting capital into Woodyard during his initial high school recruitment, hosting him for an unofficial visit in April 2022. Now that he’s in the portal, Woodyard is expected to visit the Ducks again this upcoming weekend, according to a report from Matt Zenitz. Woodyard was a 4-star safety recruit and ranked by 247Sports as the No. 20 S in the class of 2024.

If Woodyard commits, he’ll be one in a crowd of elite defensive backs Oregon has brought in this offseason. In the winter transfer portal, the Ducks brought in safety Kobe Savage and cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, both of whom are expected to start in the fall. And in the 2024 high school class, Oregon signed four 4-star DB recruits.

Oregon’s depth of experience in their secondary means Woodyard, wouldn’t see much of the field in his freshmen year if he were to join up with the Ducks, but the competition in the Oregon DB group would be a great way to develop. Both of Oregon’s starting deep safeties will be out of eligibility after the 2024 season, so the Ducks will need to lean on their young talent to fill those holes.

Jabbar Muhammad explains decision to transfer from Washington to Oregon

Going from Washington to Oregon is not an easy decision to make. Jabbar Muhammad details his process.

When it comes to rivalries in the world of sports, there are few breeding grounds as fertile as college football. And when you talk about some of the best rivalries in the world of college football, the “Cascade Clash” between the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies deserves mention.

So when one of the best players on a team in that rivalry decides that a change of scenery would best suit him, and decides to move on over to the other team in the rivalry, what happens?

That’s something you could ask Oregon cornerback Jabbar Muhammad. He was one of the best players for the Huskies a year ago, beating the Ducks twice in the season. After the destruction of the Washington roster took place following their loss in the national championship game, though, Muhammad chose to join the Ducks.

“As a kid, everyone dreams of coming to Oregon,” Muhammad said on Tuesday after practice. “When I got into the portal I got in contact with the coaches about what they had building here and what they could do for me and it’s something that attracted me.”

This isn’t the first time that Muhammad has changed schools. He started his college career at Oklahoma State, where he spent three seasons with the Cowboys before heading up to the Pacific Northwest. However, moving from one rival to the other is something that has certainly had fans get after him.

“You can’t please everybody,” Muhammad said. “You know, you’re gonna look at the people who want to talk about you, people say don’t do this, do that. But at the end of the day, you know, it’s about what’s best for you. So I kind of have some blinders on this last time knowing that, you know, this decision is gonna be pretty tough.”

Now, Muhammad projects to be one of the stars of Oregon’s defense. He’s proven that he can be impactful on the field, racking up 46 tackles and 3 interceptions last year with the Huskies alone. Can he have that type of impact in Eugene?

Duck fans would like to see it, this time with their support.

ESPN names Dillon Gabriel Oregon’s most important newcomer

ESPN named incoming QB Dillon Gabriel as Oregon’s most important newcomer for 2024.

The Oregon Ducks are in the middle of one of the most successful offseasons in program history. They signed a top-three recruiting class — the highest in school history, added some key players in the transfer portal, and retained a sizable portion of their roster. Everything is shaping up for 2024 to be an electric season for the Ducks.

On Wednesday, Blake Baumgartner and Tom VanHaaren of ESPN listed the most important newcomers for each team in ESPN’s preseason Top 25. For Oregon, they chose the Ducks’ presumable starting quarterback in 2024, Dillon Gabriel.

After two years of being spoiled by the QB play of Bo Nix, Oregon fans will have to get used to a new face running the offense, but there isn’t a more suitable replacement for Nix than Gabriel. In five seasons of college football, Gabriel has racked up 15935 total yards and 152 total touchdowns, and he is an early candidate to win the Heisman Trophy in 2024.

Baumgartner pointed out that expectations for Gabriel will be high this season, but he also had high praise for the Oklahoma transfer.

“Gabriel takes over for Bo Nix as Oregon is making the transition from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. Expectations for Gabriel, who threw for 3,660 yards (sixth in the FBS) and 30 touchdowns (eighth nationally), will be sky-high. Last season, the Ducks had the nation’s second-best offense in total yards (531.4 YPG) and the best passing offense (346.9 YPG). Gabriel is a very experienced quarterback, having spent time at both UCF and Oklahoma, and has thrown for 14,865 yards and 125 touchdowns in his five-year career. With one more season left to use, can Gabriel help the Ducks get some of the final inches that eluded them in two losses to Washington amid a 12-win campaign in 2023?”

Gabriel approaches the game in a much different way than Nix, so fans shouldn’t expect the Ducks offense to look the same as it did in 2022 and 2023. Gabriel doesn’t have the same arm strength as Bo, but he’s still willing to throw the deep ball. He is also a much more willing runner, and he has plenty of ability to extend plays and pick up first downs with his legs.

It’s not a surprise that Gabriel was picked as Oregon’s most important offseason addition. QB is the most important position for any football team, and Gabriel is one of the most talented QBs in college football. But there are several other new Ducks who could make an instant impact, such as Jabbar Muhammad and Evan Stewart. Muhammad will likely be the Ducks’ No. 1 cornerback and Stewart could be one of the Ducks’ top two receivers. Two impactful positions and two impactful players.

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Oregon nears the top of transfer portal rankings after latest addition

Where Oregon stands in transfer portal rankings after latest addition of CB Jabbar Muhammad.

The Oregon Ducks’ excellence in the transfer portal has continued into the end of January, with Dan Lanning and the Ducks most recently adding Jabbar Muhammad, a former Washington cornerback.

After Muhammad’s transfer, Oregon climbed near the top of the 247 Sports’ transfer portal rankings. Also, after the addition of Muhammad, Oregon retained its spot at No. 5 in the overall rankings of the 2024 recruiting class.

Muhammad is a blue-chip transfer, but he certainly isn’t the only big portal pickup Lanning has made this offseason. Early in December, the Ducks received commitments from star quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore, and they’ve also added elite players such as Evan Stewart and Jamaree Caldwell.

Since classes have begun at most universities, movement in the transfer portal is winding down, so these rankings won’t change much until the portal reopens in the spring. Below, I’ve listed what are likely the final transfer portal rankings of the winter transfer window.

Breaking down Oregon’s new-look secondary ahead of the 2024 season

A deep dive into the Oregon Ducks secondary entering the 2024 season, which features several new faces ready to have an instant-impact.

We usually wait until later in the year to dive deep into a position group and preview how things are shaping up for the Oregon Ducks going into the season, but when looking at the secondary that is being put together in Eugene, we simply couldn’t wait.

On Saturday afternoon, the Ducks landed a commitment from former Washington Huskies’ cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, adding yet another proven veteran playmaker with an incredibly high upside to a defense that returns a majority of starters from last season.

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The Ducks have also added guys like Kam Alexander, Brandon Johnson, and Kobe Savage to the secondary, all of whom project to be instant-impact players.

To keep track of all of the movement, and offer an idea of what the Ducks’ starting secondary players and depth pieces will look like, let’s break down all of the names that you need to know and project how they will impact the team in 2024.

Where CB Jabbar Muhammad stands among the top-rated transfers in Dan Lanning era

A look at where Oregon Ducks’ new cornerback transfer Jabbar Muhammad ranks among top-rated transfers to come to Oregon under Dan Lanning.

The Oregon Ducks held a massive recruiting weekend, with their Junior Day bringing in top-rated high school prospects to Eugene from all over the nation.

Headlining that list of visitors, though, was former Washington Huskies’ cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, one of the top available players in the transfer portal. On Saturday afternoon, Muhammad announced his commitment to Oregon on social media, leading head coach Dan Lanning to tweet out his famed duck emoji while courtside at the Oregon men’s basketball game vs. Arizona.

In 2023, Muhammad had 46 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 3 interceptions. He also had 16 PBU’s, and a coverage grade of 77.7, per PFF, which was fifth-best in the Pac-12 (minimum 300 snaps).

Before his time at Washington, Muhammad spent three seasons at Oklahoma State, where he racked up 71 tackles and 1 INT in two seasons on the field. He was also named to the second-team All-Big-12 in 2022.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen Lanning add some top-rated portal players to the roster, whether it was Bo Nix, Jordan Burch, or Christian Gonzalez.

So where does Muhammad rank among the 32 (non-specialist) Oregon transfers in the Lanning era? There are two ways to look at it. For starters, you can take into account the 247Sports transfer portal rankings. However, those rankings don’t always match what we see play out on the field. For instance, Bo Nix was a three-star prospect in the portal, but he finished his college career as a Heisman Trophy finalist in New York.

For good measure, I added my own rankings based on how good each player ended up being in Eugene.

Let’s take a look at the 25 best transfers that the Ducks have landed since Lanning has been here, and see where Muhammad lands:

Duck fans react to former Washington CB Jabbar Muhammad’s transfer to Oregon

Oregon Duck fans celebrated the addition of former Washington Huskies’ CB Jabbar Muhammad on social media.

On Saturday afternoon, Oregon Duck fans got a good last laugh over their biggest rival, the Washington Huskies, with the news that former Washington All-Pac-12 cornerback Jabbar Muhammad would officially be transferring to Eugene and joining Dan Lanning’s team going into the 2024 season.

In 2023, Muhammad was a second-team All-Pac-12 player with 46 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 3 interceptions. He also had 16 PBU’s, and a coverage grade of 77.7, per PFF, which was fifth-best in the Pac-12 (minimum 300 snaps).

Before his time at Washington, Muhammad spent three seasons at Oklahoma State, where he racked up 71 tackles and 1 INT in two seasons on the field. He was also named to the second-team All-Big-12 in 2022.

The Ducks now add Muhammad to a secondary that has retooled impressively this offseason, adding former UTSA CB Kam Alexander, former Kansas State S Kobe Savage, and former Duke DB Brandon Johnson to a unit that already includes Jahlil Florence, Tysheem Johnson, Rodrick Pleasant, and several other talented players.

As you would expect, Duck fans celebrated the news after it came out. Here are some of the top reactions on social media:

6 things to know about Oregon’s new transfer Jabbar Muhammad

Get to know Oregon’s newest cornerback transfer Jabbar Muhammad

In the wake of Kalen DeBoer’s departure to Alabama, Washington Huskies players have begun entering the transfer portal en masse. Star Huskies CB Jabbar Muhammad was one of those players, and he’s now committed to the Oregon Ducks. 

Before DeBoer was announced as Alabama’s next coach, there was speculation that the Crimson Tide were pursuing Oregon coach Dan Lanning. To dispel those rumors, Lanning tweeted a video affirming his commitment to the Ducks, and the video closed with the screen saying, “If you’re scared your coach is leaving… then come play for us.”

Muhammad seems to be the first player to have answered Lanning’s call, and his transfer is a big addition for the 2024 Ducks. Cornerback is a position of need for next year’s defense, so bringing in Muhammad and his experience will make a strong impact.

Below are six things to help you better get to know the Ducks newest transfer.

Texas emerging as favorite for Washington transfer DB Jabbar Muhammad

“Muhammad Island” could be a fun storyline for the Longhorns in 2024.

Thursday has been a great day for the Texas football program. Continue reading “Texas emerging as favorite for Washington transfer DB Jabbar Muhammad”

7 Things to know about Oregon’s transfer DB Brandon Johnson

Get to know Oregon’s new CB Brandon Johnson, a transfer from Duke.

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks can’t seem to get enough of the transfer portal, picking up a new transfer target or commitment seemingly every day. On Wednesday afternoon, Oregon added their 10th transfer commitment of 2024: Brandon Johnson, a former defensive back for the Duke Blue Devils.

The Ducks are losing their top CB from 2023, Khyree Jackson, this offseason, so the addition of Johnson is opportune. Oregon has also added 4-star transfer CB Kam Alexander as well as a long list of blue-chip players in the 2024 class.

Earlier this week, Washington’s star CB Jabbar Muhammad entered the portal, and speculation grew that he would end up at Oregon. After Johnson’s transfer, it is still a possibility, with Johnson projected more as a nickel safety than an outside cornerback.

Here are the things you need to know about Oregon’s newest CB.