Oregon made a notable addition to its roster Thursday as Washington transfer defensive lineman Sam “Taki” Taimani announced his plans to join the Ducks for the remainder of his career.
Taimani, from Salt Lake City, Utah, was a fourth-year redshirt sophomore this past season, playing in 11 games for the Huskies with 10 starts. He finished the year with 43 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.
Overall, the new Oregon defensive lineman finished with a tackle in all but one game during the 2021 season and had at least five tackles in five different games. His best performance came in a game against Oregon State when he finished with nine tackles, including two tackles for loss, to go with a fumble recovery and quarterback hurry.
Taimani used his redshirt in the 2018 season and got the free COVID season in 2020, leaving him with two years of remaining eligibility at Oregon.
His decision comes less than a week after Taimani posted a photo of himself inside Autzen Stadium while on a visit with the Ducks last Friday.
The 6-foot-2, 300-pound lineman has played in 29 games during his college career, becoming a staple of the Huskies’ defensive front the last two seasons while starting in 14 of 16 games. In all, he has collected 71 tackles to go with 3.5 tackles for loss.
Taimani was rated as a four-star prospect in the 2018 recruiting class as an offensive lineman out of East High School in Utah. He ended up as the No. 229-ranked recruit in that class and the fourth highest-rated prospect from Utah in 2018.
Taimani announced his intentions to transfer from Washington back in mid-December two weeks after the Huskies announced the hiring of new head coach Kalen DeBoer.
Oregon has now added two players via the NCAA Transfer Portal since the end of the season as Taimani joins Auburn quarterback Bo Nix as the latest additions to the Ducks roster.
