Former Miami running back Cody Brown announces transfer to Virginia

Former Miami Hurricanes running back Cody Brown announced his transfer destination on Twitter on Wednesday night.

He’ll play his college football next year for head coach Tony Elliott and the Virginia Cavaliers. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings, Brown was rated as a four-star prospect in the 2021 class and he was also rated as the No. 17 running back in America for that cycle, according to those same rankings.

Brown likely departed from Miami due to the crowded nature of their backfield. The ‘Canes return speedster Jaylan Knighton, who is without a doubt, one of the fastest running backs in college football in the open field. They also return Donald Chaney, Jr. for next season.

Chaney tore his ACL last season against Appalachian State but came into the program highly touted. A former four-star prospect out of Miami Belen Jesuit Prep (Miami, Florida), he was one of the highest ranked members of the ‘Canes’ 2020 recruiting class. The Miami native was ranked as the No. 12 running back prospect in America for the 2020 class, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. Chaney ranked third on the Hurricanes with 322 rushing yards during his freshman season.

On top of that, Miami’s new head coach, Mario Cristobal, just reeled in one of the nation’s premiere running back talents, TreVonte’ Citizen, in their 2022 recruiting class. He was ranked as the No. 4 running back prospect in America, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. They also pulled in former Ole Miss four-star running back Henry Parrish via the transfer portal this offseason.

Cody Brown, a Georgia native, originally chose Miami over offers from Georgia, Ohio State, LSU, Florida, and many others. He ranked fourth on Miami’s roster in rushing last season with 3 attempts for 139 yards and three touchdowns.

For updates on where all the different college football prospects across America are headed this offseason, keep it locked to the 2022 On3 Transfer Portal Wire.

More on the NCAA Transfer Portal

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.

On3’s Jonathan Wagner also contributed to this article.