Tennessee transfer big man Tobe Awaka commits to Arizona

Former Tennessee forward Tobe Awaka has committed to Tommy Lloyd and the University of Arizona, he told On3.

The 6-foot-8, 250-pound sophomore averaged 5.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game this season in 13.1 minutes of action per outing.

Awaka entered the transfer portal earlier this month after two years in Knoxville.

“Dear Vol nation, the past two years have been some of the most influential of my life,” Awake said in a statement. “The relationships gained and the experiences I’ve had will be forever life-changing. I want to start by thanking Coach Barnes, all of the assistant coaches, and the rest of the basketball staff, for welcoming me with open arms and supporting me during my time at Rocky Top. I also want to thank my teammates — my brothers for life. It was a pleasure getting to know and going to war with you all these past two years. Last but not least, thank you Vol nation for being one of the best fan bases in the country. Your hospitality and support has truly been a blessing.

“This decision was extremely difficult to make, however, I have decided to enter my name into the transfer portal. Thank you Vol nation, I will always love Tennessee.”

Tobe Awaka commits to Arizona, 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 asynchronous 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.

Track transfer portal activity

While the NCAA Transfer Portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement. If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Industry recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Rankings allow for you to filter the On3 Industry Rankings to find the best of the best in the portal, starting with Overall Top Players. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.