South Carolina WR Kelton Henderson officially enters transfer portal
A few weeks after news broke that Kelton Henderson was no longer on the South Carolina football team, the redshirt freshman wide receiver is officially in the NCAA transfer portal, On3’s Pete Nakos reports.
The spring transfer window opened on April 16 and runs through April 30, meaning another two weeks of portal madness.
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- South Carolina Portal Tracker
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Head coach Shane Beamer spoke a couple of weeks ago during his weekly press conference about Henderson and confirmed that he was dismissed from the program.
“That was our decision,” Beamer said. “Think a lot of Kelton, wish him well, but there’s a expectation level of how we’re going to do things in this program, inside this building and outside this building, and just a body of work that wasn’t what we wanted as well. I care about him, want to help him in any way, told him I would call anybody for him. He’s a guy that has ability and I’ll be pulling for him, it just won’t be here.”
The 6-foot, 183-pounder has four years of eligibility left and will presumably enter the transfer portal when the spring window opens on April 15. After dealing with an early season injury as a freshman last year, Henderson played in two games on special teams but did not see any time on offense and did not record any stats.
A former three-star prospect, Henderson signed with the Gamecocks out of Fort Myers (Fla.) Lehigh as part of the 2023 class.
He was considered the No. 585 overall prospect and No. 87 wide receiver in the class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average of the four major recruiting media sites.
Henderson was one of four high school receivers that South Carolina signed in the class.
What is the transfer portal?
The spring transfer portal window is just 15 days, a crammed period that could reshape the 2024 college football offseason. The portal tool was launched in 2018 to allow athletes to be more involved in the process of transferring. Athletes must notify institutions of their intent to transfer. Each school’s compliance team has 48 hours to put a name into the portal.
A total of 538 FBS scholarship players put their names in the transfer portal on Day 1 of the winter window in December. That number is not expected to be as high, in part because plenty of high-profile programs are still going through spring practice.
After an athlete is officially in the portal, there is no rush on making a decision as long as they are properly enrolled at a new institution in time for fall camp. Commitments do not have to be made during the 15-day window. Grad transfers are allowed to enter the portal at any time.
Roster retention will be crucial for programs, with NIL playing a vital role in keeping rosters together in the new age of college football. Exactly 645 FBS players transferred in last year’s spring window.
