Demetrius Watson announces intention to enter transfer portal
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Demetrius Watson announced his decision to enter the transfer portal after one season with South Carolina.
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In his lone year with the Gamecocks, Watson did not appear in any games and worked with the scout team.
Watson joined South Carolina as the No. 14 in-state player and the No. 122 defensive lineman in the class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry ranking.
As a high school senior, Watson earned first-team All-State 5A honors at Fort Dorchester High School after leading the team to a 12-1 record.
South Carolina bio
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle who begins his second season in the program… needs to continue to take steps and improve to become a candidate for a spot in the rotation this fall.
2022 (Freshman)
True freshman defensive lineman… worked with the scout team… did not appear in any games… redshirted.
HIGH SCHOOL
Graduated from Fort Dorchester High School in North Charleston, S.C. in 2022… earned first-team All-State 5A honors as a senior… helped the Patriots to a 12-1 record and a spot in the state semifinals as a senior… selected for the Shrine Bowl… coached by Steve LaPrad… played on both sides of the ball in 2021… considered the 17th-best player in the state of South Carolina and the 148th-best defensive lineman in the country according to 247Sports Composite… regarded as the 15th-best player in the state by Rivals.
PERSONAL
Demetrius Kershaw Watson Jr. was born October 27, 2003… is a sport and entertainment management major.
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.
