Former Wichita State, Georgia guard Jaykwon Walton commits to Alabama

Jaykwon Walton, a former Top 100 recruit, has committed to Alabama out of the NCAA Transfer Portal. Walton played 2022-23 at Wichita State after spending two seasons coming off the bench at Georgia.

A Georgia native who played high school basketball in Alabama, Walton originally signed and spent two seasons playing for the Bulldogs but in a minimal role, appearing in just nine games. At Wichita State this past season, the 6-foot-7 guard shone, starting in 27 of his 28 games played and averaging nearly 14 points per game in just more than 32 minutes per game. He’s an apt rebounder who pulled down more than five a contest and shot 40% from 3 last season, and his style of play should mesh nicely in Alabama’s up-tempo, attacking mode of offense.

As a prospect out of Carver-Montgomery (AL) High School, Walton was rated four stars by the major recruiting services and he was the No. 77 overall prospect in the class of 2019, according to the On3 Industry Comparison.

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.