Louisville transfer El Ellis commits to Arkansas

Louisville transfer El Ellis has committed to Arkansas, he told On3.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound combo guard averaged 17.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists this season for the Cardinals, who finished last in the ACC with an overall record of 4-28.

Ellis, a native of Durham, N.C., discussed his commitment to Arkansas with On3.

“Arkansas has a winning culture that I would love to be apart of and the plans they have for me made it a no brainer!”

Ellis becomes the fifth transfer to commitment to Eric Musselman and Co. this offseason. He joins SG Tramon Mark from Houston (10.1 PPG), CG Keyon Menifield from Washington (10 PPG), SG Khalif Battle from Temple (17.9 PPG), and SF Jeremiah Davenport from Cincinnati (9.1 PPG).

The Arkansas Razorbacks closed the 2022-23 season ninth in the SEC, with an overall record of 22-14.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

El Ellis is headed to Arkansas, 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.