Veteran Wisconsin linebacker to enter NCAA transfer portal

Former On3 consensus four-star recruit and Wisconsin linebacker Isayah Green-May announced on Monday that he will be entering his name into the NCAA transfer portal.

“Throughout my five years in the Wisconsin Football program, I’ve grown a lot as a player and person,” Green-May said in a statement. “I’m thankful for all the opportunities, experiences, and lifelong relationships this university has provided and allowed me to take advantage of. Big thank you to Coach Chryst & the coaching staff for believing in me, and for everything they’ve done to help me grow on and off the field. I’m extremely grateful for the fans and staff for being a part of my journey.

“Most importantly, thank you to my teammates for their support. Love all you guys, you’ll forever be my brothers and Madison will always be home to me. With that being said, I will be entering the transfer portal and using my last year of eligibility as a graduate student.”

Transfer portal background information  for Wisconsin, Green-May

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.