Former Arkansas defensive back reveals transfer decision
After playing two seasons at Arkansas, defensive back Nick Turner has announced that he’s transferring to Toledo to play for the Rockets. A former On3 Consensus three-star recruit out of the Class of 2020, Turner made the news public on his Twitter account Monday evening.
“I will miss my brothers and the memories we made,” Turner said. “Thank you to Coach Pitt & The entire staff for all that was done during my stay at Arkansas. I wish everyone nothing but the best!! Ready to start my next journey… All Work .. No Luck!!!”
A 5-foot-11, 190-pound defender, Turner recorded just one tackle while playing in one game for the Razorbacks in 2021 – against Mississippi State on Nov. 6. In his two seasons in Fayetteville, Turner made 13 total tackles, including seven solo. He entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Jan. 3.
A native of New Orleans who prepped at Brother Martin High School, Turner committed to Arkansas over offers from Tennessee, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Baylor, Texas Tech, Virginia and Houston, among others.
Transfer portal background information
Check out the NCAA Transfer Portal Tracker.
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.