Cam Newton's younger brother Caylin makes decision on Auburn future

Auburn receiver Caylin Newton has entered the transfer portal, On3’s Matt Zenitz reported. Newton, who is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Cam Newton, joined the Tigers as a grad transfer in 2020.

Prior to joining Auburn, Caylin Newton was a quarterback for Howard University. He was named the MEAC rookie of the year after passing for 2,342 yards and scoring 25 total touchdowns in 2017. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management from Howard in 2020.

Caylin Newton played a minimal role for Auburn over the past two seasons, finishing this year with one catch for 31 yards. He also served on special teams for the Tigers, totaling two tackles and returning a punt for 19 yards.

The Tigers finished this past season with a 6-7 record under first-year coach Bryan Harsin. They lost in the Birmingham Bowl to Houston to close the year.

Transfer portal background information for Caylin Newton, Auburn

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.