Arizona State loses two major contributors to NCAA transfer portal

The Arizona State Sun Devils are losing two major contributors from the 2021 season, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. Leading receiver Ricky Pearsall and PFF freshman All-American linebacker Eric Gentry both entered the NCAA transfer portal on Thursday.

Ricky Pearsall, a 2019 signee out of Tempe, Ariz., led all Sun Devils receivers last season with 48 catches for 580 yards and four touchdowns. Pearsall was a three-star prospect coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus, and has two years of eligibility remaining. As this is his first transfer attempt of his career, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound wideout will be able to play right away next year.

Key Arizona State defender Eric Gentry is also on his way out the door of the Herm Edwards program. He posted 45 tackles with a sack in 2021, which was sixth on the Sun Devils’ defense. Gentry is a rare 6-foot-6 linebacker, weighing 205 pounds. He’s a Philadelphia native and chose Arizona State over 15 other D-I offers, despite the distance from home.

Arizona State added eight transfers to fill holes since the end of the season and it now looks like they’ll need to add a few more before the fall.

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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 goes 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. 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 However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship is no longer valid.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 reoffer a scholarship.