The transfer portal returned some talent back to the Oklahoma Sooners.
Pete Nakos of On3 reported Monday evening that OU defensive back Mykel Patterson-McDonald has withdrawn his name from the transfer portal.
Oklahoma cornerback Mykel Patterson-McDonald has withdrawn from the transfer portal, @On3sports has learned. https://t.co/VxSGJEUisH pic.twitter.com/awR8O7pqeR
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) January 13, 2025
Patterson-McDonald was an extremely late addition to the transfer portal. In fact, he was the last Sooner to enter the portal after doing so on Jan. 3, two days after the final night OU players could officially submit paperwork to do so.
According to Sooners on SI, though, Patterson-McDonald never actually intended to leave OU, but only entered the transfer portal as part of a loop hole to stay with the program during roster cuts. He will re-join the program as a walk-on.
OU coach Brent Venables is shuffling the roster to prepare for roster limits shrinking to 105, pending a legal decision in April. To still be with the program, some players, such as Patterson-McDonald, are giving up their athletic scholarship to be reclassified as walk-ons, according to Sooners on SI.
OU's NIL collective, 1Oklahoma, is reportedly compensating those walk-ons to make up for the lost scholarship.
That made Patterson-McDonald's entrance into the transfer portal a formality to negate a rule that protects athletes from losing their scholarship once with a program unless they transfer, or at least enter the transfer portal, according to Sooners on SI.
Although Patterson-McDonald hasn't made an impact for the Sooners yet, he certainly could in the future after redshirting his first year on campus.
Rivals was the highest on Patterson-McDonald, rating him as a four-star recruit out of nearby Westmoore High School. Rivals also ranked Patterson-McDonald as the No. 2 prospect in the state from the 2024 class.
247Sports, On3 and ESPN all gave Patterson-McDonald three stars. Every major recruiting service had him as a top-15 recruit in Oklahoma.
Patterson-McDonald withdrawing his name from the transfer portal means the Sooners have lost 26 players now during this winter cycle. That number will hold steady unless another player withdraws considering only graduate transfers can enter the transfer portal from OU at this point. However, nearly everyone else who entered the portal from OU has already found their next destination.