Arizona State transfer wide receiver makes surprise announcement on decision

Former Arizona State wide receiver Geordon Porter announced Wednesday that he will decommit from Buffalo, where he decided to transfer one week ago. The former three-star recruit entered the transfer portal after four seasons with the Sun Devils and appeared set for a cross-country move to play in the MAC.

However, as Geordon Porter announced in a social media message, the plan has changed and he will decommit from Buffalo.

“Thank you Buffalo coaching staff for showing the upmost respect,” Porter posted. “However, at this time I feel it’s best for me to decommit.”

Over four seasons at Arizona State, Porter appeared in 22 games. He finished his Sun Devil career with 14 receptions for 250 yards and one touchdown catch. He also added one carry for a loss of 14 yards in 2020.

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.

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.