Washington edge defender Sav'ell Smalls commits to Colorado
Colorado and new coach Deion Sanders have landed yet another high-profile transfer, this time securing a commitment from Washington edge defender Sav’ell Smalls.
Smalls announced his commitment on his Twitter account on Tuesday evening.
Smalls opted to transfer after his third season at Washington. He appeared in 29 games over the last three years and racked up 32 tackles, 1.0 tackles for a loss and a fumble recovery.
He is the latest of a number of high-profile transfers to pick Colorado as a landing spot, where Sanders has enacted a significant roster overhaul. Over 50 Buffaloes players have entered the transfer portal since Sanders took over, so having players like Sav’ell Smalls jump on board to fill roster spots is necessary.
Prior to enrolling at Washington and then later entering the NCAA transfer portal, Sav’ell Smalls was one of the most high-profile recruits in the country. He was a five-star prospect and the No. 25 overall player in the 2020 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.
Smalls checked in as the No. 2 edge defender in his class and the No. 1 overall player from the state of Washington, hailing from Burien (Wash.) Kennedy Catholic.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
Transfer portal background information
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.
Track transfer portal activity
While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.
If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.
The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).
The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.