Former West Virginia DL Taijh Alston commits to transfer to Colorado

Two days after picking up an offer from Deion Sanders at Colorado, West Virginia defensive lineman transfer Taijh Alston announced his commitment to the Buffaloes.

He notched 15 tackles for loss and eight sacks in his career and will have one year of eligibility remaining to use for the Buffs. After posting 36 tackles with five sacks in 2021, Alston had 18 tackles in seven games played with two sacks and two forced fumbles this season.

Per the On3 transfer rankings, Alston is the No. 66 best-available edge rusher in the transfer portal.

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Alston played high school football at Cameron (NC) Union Pines, where he was a three-star prospect in the 2017 class. After attending junior college, he was the No. 86 overall JUCO recruit in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

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 starts with the 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.

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 However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship is no longer valid. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school does not have to cover their scholarship.

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 for a “do not contact” tag on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want contact from schools unless they initiate the communication.

Track transfer portal activity

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to our Transfer Portal Wire.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.