Report: Alabama transfer S Peyton Woodward to take Oregon visit

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.

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire