Tulane transfer Jalen Cook commits to LSU

Tulane transfer Jalen Cook has committed to LSU, he told On3.

The 6-foot, 205-pound point guard averaged 19.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game this season for the Green Wave, who finished with an overall record of 20-11.

Cook has spent the last two seasons at Tulane, but actually began his college career at LSU. As a freshman for the Tigers, Cook averaged 3.1 points in only 7.5 minutes of action per game. Now that he has returned to Baton Rouge with more experience, he is set to make a much bigger impact.

The native of Walker, Louisiana, discussed his return to the Tigers with On3.

“I picked LSU because going into my last year, I wanted to be at a school where they had the resources to get me to the next level and elevate my game and become not just a better player but person. Coach (Matt) McMahon is a great coach and has produced big time guards and I love how he let them play with freedom and run the team. LSU has a great culture and coaching staff that is bought in. LSU is home for me and is my favorite school and there is no other place I’d rather play for my last year in college. Bringing a national championship back home is a goal I set as a kid.”

LSU finished the 2022-23 season in last place in the SEC, with an overall record of 14-19.

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

Jalen Cook is headed back to LSU, 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.