Report: Ohio State defensive back Lejond Cavazos transferring to North Carolina
According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, North Carolina has picked up Lejond Cavazos out of the transfer portal. Coming via the Ohio State Buckeyes, it’s a major win for head coach Mack Brown after nearly 55 schools reached out to the defensive back.
Cavazos went on to announce the decision and make it official later Monday afternoon. He attached some pictures of him in the North Carolina uniform
“Chapter 2 in baby blue,” Cavazos said.
Cavazos took an official visit to Chapel Hill over the weekend. Colorado also got him on campus and was viewed as the biggest competitor going up against North Carolina. He was seen with basketball star Armando Bacot during the visit, with the center trying to help out the football program. His now fellow defensive back Tony Grimes was there as well, with Brown hoping the two can make huge contributions within the secondary this season.
Coming out of high school, Cavazos was a four-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting services. He ranked as the No. 362 overall player in the 2020 recruiting class and No. 55 within his home state of Florida after attending IMG Academy.
Cavazos played in 12 games during his time in Columbus, with 11 of them coming during the 2021 season. The defensive back was not able to gain a start but contributed eight tackles throughout the year. He also defended two passes, with one coming against the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Michigan State Spartans.
According to the On3 transfer portal rankings, Cavazos was ranked the cycle’s No. 29 overall cornerback. He was the ninth-best available at the position, proving to be a big splash for Brown and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik for the 2022 season.
Transfer portal background information for Lejond Cavazos, North Carolina
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.