Former four-star recruit enters NCAA Transfer Portal, ranks as No. 2 transfer ATH
Vanderbilt junior De’Rickey Wright has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, he confirmed Tuesday on Twitter.
“I would like to thank the Vanderbilt community,” Wright’s statement reads, in part. “You all took me under your wing and have been so amazing to me and my family, I will forever be thankful for that. I would also like to thank Coach Mason for giving me a chance to be a part of this great institution, as well as Coach Lea and his staff for believing in me and taking me in with open arms since they’ve been here.”
Wright was a former four-star recruit according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, which made him the No. 9 ATH in the 2020 recruiting class. In high school, Wright first committed to Alabama, then flipped his commitment to Ole Miss before ending up at Vanderbilt.
Now, Wright ranks as the No. 2 ATH in the NCAA Transfer Portal, trailing only Ladarius Tennison in the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. He is finishing up his junior year in terms of academic standing, but Wright still has extra eligibility due to the COVID-19 blanket waiver.
Click here for a list of all NCAA Transfer Portal entries. For Transfer Portal rankings, click here.
Wright appeared in eight games last season, tallying 24 tackles (13 solo stops), one forced fumble and two passes defended. A versatile player that was recruited as an athlete, Wright lined up at both safety and outside linebacker. However, he was suspended late in the season for an undisclosed, off-the-field disciplinary issue.
Though Wright only played in four games his freshman year, preserving a redshirt in 2020, he showed glimpses of his potential under then-head coach Derek Mason. He notched six total tackles — five of which came against No. 6 Florida — and recovered a fumble against the Gators.
“I will forever be grateful for this experience, one that not many people are able to achieve,” Wright said. “With that being said, I would like to say that I am entering the Transfer Portal.”
More on the Transfer Portal after Wright’s entry
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.