Star transfer RB Jaydn Ott signs with Oklahoma Sooners

Top transfer running back Jaydn Ott has signed with the Oklahoma Sooners to play for the 2025 football season, the school announced on Tuesday.

The commitment of a tailback of Ott’s caliber is a notable gain for the Sooners at the position as the offense looks to boost its production from a year ago, when it ranked 76th nationally in output.

Ott came into last season following a dominant 1,300-plus yard rushing effort, but injured his ankle in the season opener and was never completely healthy again.

He missed two games a year ago, and was limited in other contests, finishing with 385 yards rushing off 116 carries and four touchdowns.

Ott has 2,587 rushing yards in his collegiate career over the last three seasons, all with California, scoring 24 touchdowns on the ground and six more times as a receiver.

One of the best returning backs in college football this year, Ott has 3,460 all-purpose yards and 31 total touchdowns over the course of his career.

How the college football transfer portal works

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.

A player can enter their name into the transfer portal through their school's compliance office.

Once a player gives written notification of their intent to transfer, the office puts the player's name into the database, and they officially become a transfer.

The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player's request and NCAA rules forbid anyone from refusing that request.

The database includes the player's name, contact information, info on whether the player was on scholarship, and if he is a graduate student.

Once a player's name appears in the transfer portal database, other schools are free to contact the player, who can change his mind at any point in the process and withdraw from the transfer portal.

Notably, once a player enters the portal, his school no longer has to honor the athletic scholarship it gave him.

And if that player decides to leave the portal and return to his original school, the school doesn't have to give him another scholarship.

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