Former Cincinnati WR Nick Mardner commits to Auburn

Hugh Freeze was brought in to make over the Auburn football program in his image. With 10 players leaving and seven players coming in, he is off to a strong start in doing that. Now, his eighth addition is on his way through the transfer portal as former Cincinnati wide receiver Nick Mardner has committed to play for the Tigers.

Mardner shared the announcement that he’d be at Auburn next season earlier this evening on Twitter.

this time it’s personal…war eagle🦅 @AuburnFootball pic.twitter.com/8xtSLis7bB

— skywalker (@NMardner) January 9, 2023

Mardner, who is a 6’6 receiver out of Mississauga, Ontario, just finished up his senior season with the Bearcats. That comes after he spent his first three seasons at Hawaii. In total, he has caught 81 passes for just under 1,500 yards and 11 touchdowns in his career. In his lone season at Cincy, though, he caught 19 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns over 10 games.

Mardner played high school football at Clarkson Football North where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 2,714 overall recruit in the 2018 cycle according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He then entered the portal amidst Luke Fickell’s hiring at Wisconsin. Auburn Live most recently reported that Mardner made a visit to The Plains over the weekend. A big part of earning Mardner’s commitment is that Auburn’s new wide receiver coach, Marcus Davis, coached him with the Rainbow Warriors. With that, Freeze sealed the deal on a solid receiving option for whoever will be the Tiger’s QB1 next season.

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

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.

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.

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 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.