Joshua Pierre-Louis enters the transfer portal
NC State football third-year sophomore nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis became the latest from the Wolfpack to enter the transfer portal. Pierre-Louis had been a promising defensive back who was considered a potential future multi-year starter, but an indefinite suspension this season kept him off the field for most of the year.
Pierre-Louis had 17 tackles, an interception and 2 pass breakups in 2021. He allowed just 7 completions when thrown against 15 times that season and did not allow a touchdown, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). Quarterbacks had just a 31.0 NFL passer rating when targeting Pierre-Louis, per PFF.
Pierre-Louis was expected to the heir apparent to All-ACC nickel Tyler Baker-Williams, who returned this season to use his extra year due to the NCAA freezing eligibility in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020.
Before his suspension, Pierre-Louis had 4 tackles in 2 games this season.
The 5-foot-10, 175-pounder from the Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., announced his commitment to NC State on signing day in 2019, picking the Wolfpack after also officially visiting Connecticut and picking up late fall offers from Central Florida and Louisville.
In the summer before his senior season, Pierre-Louis camped at NC State and impressed, running the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds and the shuttle in 4.09 seconds. He also had a 9-foot-9 standing broad jump.
As a junior, Pierre-Louis was also named the Sun Sentinel Palm beach Class 2A-1A boys track and field Athlete of the Year.
Pierre-Louis is the fifth scholarship player on the NC State football roster to enter the transfer portal.
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.
