Texas A&M Offensive Lineman Enters Transfer Portal
Texas A&M offensive lineman Derick Hunter announced that he has entered the transfer portal on social media.
Hunter, who was heading into his fourth year with the Aggies, entered the program as four star recruit out of Fort Myers (Fla.) Dunbar in the 2019 cycle. He began his career in 2019 as a defensive lineman but moved to offensive line ahead of the 2021 season. In his Texas A&M career, Hunter saw action in 18 games over the last three seasons.
Hunter is the second Texas A&M player to enter the portal since the end of spring ball. Just two days after the annual Maroon & White Game to close out the spring, senior wide receiver Caleb Chapman announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer.
As a junior, Chapman played in six games, making two starts, and recorded 13 catches for 210 yards. In his Texas A&M career, Chapman recorded 28 total catches for 413 total yards and three touchdowns.
Chapman and Hunter join former five-star wide receiver Demond Demas and former four-star tight end Baylor Cupp as Texas A&M players in the transfer portal, as both announced their intentions to enter the portal in March.
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.