Report: Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma to visit Alabama

One of the top transfers in the transfer portal is reportedly making his way to Tuscaloosa. Arthur Kaluma, a former Creighton forward, has set a visit to Alabama next week, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported.

Kaluma reportedly also has a visit set with Kentucky and is currently on an official visit to Kansas State, On3 and K-State Online’s Derek Young reported earlier Friday. He’s the No. 4-ranked available transfer in the portal as of Friday night, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings.

Kaluma averaged 11.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game last season for Creighton to help the Bluejays to a 24-13 overall record and a 14-6 mark in Big East action. A product of Dream City Christian (AZ), he was a four-star recruit and the No. 51-ranked prospect in the nation from the 2021 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Alabama has been active in the portal this offseason and is also showing interest in another top-ranked available transfer. Former North Dakota State standout Grant Nelson — On3’s top transfer available as of Friday night — took an official visit to Alabama earlier this week, as BOL’s Tim Watts reported. His father recapped the visit with BOL’s Joseph Hastings shortly afterward.

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 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.