SMU offers Alabama DL transfer Anquin Barnes
SMU offered Alabama defensive lineman Anquin Barnes, who entered the NCAA transfer portal on Monday. The Mustangs have a huge need at defensive tackle and now have an offer out to the former four-star prospect.
Barnes is a redshirt sophomore for the Crimson Tide who has played in two career games, both coming this fall (Middle Tennessee, Chattanooga). The 6-foot-5, 315-pound defensive lineman from Montgomery did not see the field in either of his first two years at Alabama.
Whoever wins up landing Barnes out of the portal will have at least two years of eligibility remaining. The potential is clearly there for the defensive lineman.
Barnes, who played high school football at Montgomery (AL) Robert E. Lee, was the No. 357 overall recruit in the 2021 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
SMU’s now hoping to land Barnes, but competition is stiff with programs like Memphis, Indiana, Colorado and others after him.
Barnes taking advantage of NCAA Transfer Portal
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.
