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Auburn picks up transfer commitment from former Iowa State defensive back Craig McDonald

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph•05/14/22
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AMES, IA - NOVEMBER 26: Quarterback Max Duggan #15 of the TCU Horned Frogs is tackled by defensive back Craig McDonald #27 of the Iowa State Cyclones as he scrambled for yards in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on November 26, 2021 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Max Duggan; Craig McDonald

The Auburn Tigers are getting a top young talent from the Big 12 out of the transfer portal. According to On3’s Matt Zenitz, Former Iowa State Cyclones defensive back Craig McDonald has committed to Auburn for the 2022-2023 season.

Coming out of high school, McDonald was a three-star prospect and the recruiting class of 2020. he was nationally ranked 823, No. 59 at the safety position, and No.8 Best talent to come out of the state of Minnesota. The six-foot-three safety captured a few honors while with Iowa State. In 2020, he was named to the Big 12 academic All-Rookie team. And in 2021, he was named to the first-team academic All-Big 12 team.

McDonald also confirmed the news later with this post from his social media account.

McDonald didn’t play much in 2020, recording just one tackle for the entire season. However, in the 2021 campaign, the redshirted freshman recorded 41 total tackles, 24 solo, one pass defended, and had two interceptions. With McDonald’s size and playmaking ability, the Tigers now have a promising young prospect who can help protect their secondary for the next few years.

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.