Alabama wide receiver Traeshon Holden plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

Alabama wide receiver Traeshon Holden plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he announced via Twitter on Wednesday.

To the Alabama Family, I would like to thank coach Saban and the entire Alabama coaching staff for everything that you have done for me while I was a student-athlete here. Having said that, I would to announce that I will be entering the transfer portal effective immediately.

— Traeshon Holden (@Traeski11) November 30, 2022

Holden spent three seasons with the Crimson Tide, appearing in 29 games. He had his best statistical year in 2022, going for 331 yards and six touchdowns on 25 receptions. Now, Holden is likely to be one of the top receiver options available in the portal.

Holden played high school football at Harbor City (CA) Narbonne, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 193 overall recruit in the 2020 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 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.