Report: Cormani McClain 'receiving significant interest' from SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 programs

The transfer portal recruitment of Cormani McClain appears to be taking some more turns. He’s generating some notable interest from Power Conference programs, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reported.

McClain is “receiving significant interest from programs in the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12,” Rittenberg said, per agent Hector Rivas. The former five-star recruit had an up-and-down season at Colorado last season under Deion Sanders, but opted to take his talents elsewhere by entering the portal earlier this month.

After McClain entered the portal, On3’s Hayes Fawcett reported he heard from a long list of schools. LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Auburn, Texas A&M, USC, UCF, USF, Georgia, UCLA and Oregon all reached out shortly after he decided to transfer.

McClain later spoke on his decision and said grades weren’t an issue.

“I would say staying on top of school (is my biggest emphasis right now),” McClain said. “You’ve gotta make sure your grades and everything is great in the transfer portal. I don’t know why everybody’s saying the school part about me. I got As and Bs. So it’s never the school part, just to clear that up.”

More on the recruitment of Cormani McClain

In his transfer portal intel last week, On3’s Pete Nakos reported three schools – USF, UCF and Memphis – mentioned in McClain’s recruitment, but a source said to keep an eye on multiple schools. On Monday, McClain also signed with Disruptive Sports Agency for NIL representation with Rivas now representing him.

McClain didn’t play much to start the season despite arriving at CU as a highly touted recruit. A product of Lakeland High School (Fla.), he was a five-star prospect and the No. 13 overall player from the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

But after news broke of McClain’s decision to transfer, Sanders wished him the best and said he hopes he ends up in a good program to develop both on and off the field.

“I’m always in prayer for young men, and I want the best for them,” Sanders told DNVR. “And I pray to God that he goes to a program that challenges him as well as holds him accountable and develops him as a young man. Unfortunately, we weren’t the program that could accomplish that.

“So prayerfully that he understands that this is his second go-around and get it. Go get it, man. Because he has a tremendous amount of talent, but he has to want it.”