BREAKING: Tulsa transfer OL Jaden Muskrat commits to Auburn
Auburn football has added another transfer offensive lineman from Tulsa.
Jaden Muskrat, who started at right tackle last season for the Golden Hurricane, has committed to Auburn. He announced his decision Monday on Twitter.
Muskrat’s decision comes two weeks after an official visit to Auburn. He also reportedly visited Arkansas.
Muskrat chose Auburn over offers from the Razorbacks, Ole Miss, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, South Carolina, Purdue, Cincinnati and Cal, among others.
Muskrat is the second Tulsa offensive lineman to transfer to Auburn, joining Dillon Wade, who transferred to the Plains in January. Auburn offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery knows both Wade and Muskrat well. He recruited both when he was at Tulsa.
Muskrat, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 307 pounds, entered the transfer portal on April 15, the first day players could enter the portal in the spring 15-day window. It didn’t take long for Auburn to offer. Hours after his name appeared in the portal, Muskrat claimed an offer from the Tigers.
Musket played high school ball at Bentonville (Ark.) West. He has two years of eligibility. Although Muskrat played right tackle last season for Tulsa, he could project at guard at Auburn.
Muskrat is the Tigers’ fourth transfer commitment from the 15-day spring window, joining quarterback Payton Thorne (Michigan State), wide receiver Caleb Burton (Ohio State) and edge rusher Jalen McLeod (Appalachian State).
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.
More on the portal database
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 recruiting cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.
