Report: Former Memphis guard planning Texas A&M visit
Former Memphis guard Landers Nolley, who entered the transfer portal last week, has scheduled a visit to Texas A&M for this weekend, according to the Commercial Appeal’s Jason Munz. The senior also plans to visit NC State next weekend.
A former Virginia Tech standout, Landers Nolley initially transferred to play for the Tigers in 2020 and now entered the portal for a second time after his junior season with interest from NC State and Texas A&M so far.
Over two seasons at Memphis before opting to enter the transfer portal, Nolley started 43 of 57 appearances under Penny Hardaway. After averaging 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds at Virginia Tech as a freshman, he averaged 11.5 and 4.0 over two seasons at Memphis.
Nolley is a former four-star recruit in the 2018 On3 Consensus rankings and ranked No. 79 in the country and No. 5 out of the state of Georgia. His decision to enter the transfer portal a second time comes after Memphis received a notice of allegations from the NCAA stemming from a long investigation into the program.
He also ranked among the top 200 college basketball players in NIL value, according to On3’s NL valuation. Over 12,000 followers bring his value to $18,100.
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.
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.