Clemson wide receiver enters transfer portal

Amid turmoil at Clemson following the recent departure of offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, defensive coordinator Brent Venables and athletic director Dan Radakovich, the Tigers received more bad news on Saturday. 

Former four-star wide receiver Ajou Ajou has entered the transfer portal, per On3’s Matt Zenitz. 

The sophomore had six catches for 73 yards this season. He played in 10 games as a true freshman, notching two receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown.

Ajou is a native of Canada, but he went to high school at Clearwater (Florida) Academy. In his senior high school season, he averaged 17.6 yards per reception.

Ajou is the second Clemson wideout to enter the portal this month, as Frank Ladson declared his intent to transfer on Dec. 3. Quarterback Taisun Phommachanh also entered the transfer portal on the same day.

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.