SMU OL Jacob Waller enters NCAA Transfer Portal
SMU offensive lineman Jacob Waller entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Tuesday, On3 has learned. The Arlington, Texas native will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.
After not seeing action in 2022, Waller played in five games as a reserve offensive lineman for the Mustangs. Waller announced his decision on Tuesday.
“After talking with my family, friends, and coaches I have decided to enter the transfer portal with 3 years of eligibility left,” Waller said on Twitter. “I want to thank coach Justice and coach Lashlee for the opportunity to learn and be coach by them it was an honor being apart of a championship team and building such great memories. I’ve learned so much from everyone at SMU and couldn’t be more thankful.”
According to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, he was the No. 121 interior offensive lineman in the country and No. 222 overall prospect in Texas. He picked SMU over Air Force, Dartmouth, Austin Peay and others.
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.
