Florida tight end Nick Elksnis announces his intention to enter NCAA transfer portal

On Tuesday, Florida Gators tight end Nick Elksnis announced his intention to enter the transfer portal at the end of the season. The second-year Gator played mostly on special teams for Billy Napier’s squad this season after appearing in four games in 2021 and taking his redshirt.

Elksnis signed with Florida in the 2021 recruiting class as a four-star prospect out of Episcopal High School in Jacksonville. He was the No. 390 prospect in the nation and No. 15 tight end, according to the On3 Consensus. He initially committed to Penn State before decommitting and flipping to Florida after the Gators’ Junior Day in March of 2020.

Per the NCAA’s current rules, Elksnis will be immediately eligible to play at his school of choice once he enters the portal and he’ll have three years of eligibility.

Forever grateful for the Orange and Blue pic.twitter.com/zShSAjeI3Q

— Nick Elksnis (@NickElksnis) November 15, 2022

During the Florida Gators’ loss to Georgia, Elksnis took to Twitter to point out the discrepancy in tight end usage between the two teams.

“7 for 172 and a touchdown in the first half VS 0 for 0,” Elksnis tweeted, along with a frowning emoji.

He followed up on the comment with some clarification.

“I wasn’t saying this to start controversy,” he shared. “I believe Dante and Zip need the ball more and I was frustrated about it. They are elite players and need to be weapons on this team. All love for the boys and the fight they showed today.”

The 6-foot-6, 234-pound tight end may have had a point about the Gators’ tight end productivity. After former head coach Dan Mullen heavily utilized the position in the passing game, Napier’s leading tight end, Keon Zipperer has just 13 catches for 177 yards and a score this season.

NCAA transfer portal background

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.

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 on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want contact from schools unless they initiate the communication.