According to a report by 247Sports, senior linebacker Isaac Slade-Matautia entered the NCAA transfer portal on Friday. The linebacker was expected to enter the year as a starter at the inside linebacker position where he has started for consecutive years. 

After sustaining an injury which cut his freshman year short, Slade-Matautia went on to tally 127 total tackles, 2.5 sacks and 17 pass breakups throughout his 28 games in a Ducks uniform. 

“After deep prayer and consulting with my family, I have decided to enter the transfer portal and will finish my final college football season elsewhere,” he wrote in an Instagram post Friday. “I will forever be grateful to the wonderful people at the University of Oregon.”  

“To the UO football program, thank you for the life lessons and the opportunity to play and train everyday at a high level,” he said. “There are no words to express my feelings of gratitude for the people that have helped me become not only a better athlete, but a better person.

The former four-star was a staple of the Ducks defense for the past two years and his presence as both a suitable coverage backer as well as a physical run-stuffer will be missed in the middle of newly-hired defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter’s defense.  

Luckily for the Ducks they have several explosive underclassmen at the position. Noah Sewell projects as not only a defensive starter but a leader on an experienced unit entering his sophomore year. Fellow sophomore Justin Flowe seems poised for a breakout season alongside Sewell after missing nearly the entirety of his freshman year.