Kaden Martin, son of Tennessee legend Tee Martin, plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

Miami outfielder Kaden Martin is planning to enter the transfer portal after one season, he announced on Twitter on Tuesday.

Martin is the son of Tennessee legend Tee Martin, who led the Vols to a national title as a quarterback in Knoxville.

Kaden Martin appeared in two games this season, going 0-for-3 at the plate. He posted the following message on Twitter announcing his decision:

“First off, I would like to thank the University of Miami for giving me the opportunity to grow as a player and person this past season. I would also like to thank each of my teammates and support staff around me for putting in the time to help me develop as a player,” Martin wrote. “With that being said, my family and I have decided that it’s in my best interest to enter the transfer portal and continue my collegiate career elsewhere. Looking forward to the next chapter.”

Martin started his high school career in Tennessee, before transferring to Georgia. He was named a Perfect Game All-American in 2021. Martin was also a star on the football field in high school and originally committed to play both sports for the Hurricanes. However, he did not play football this past season.

Kaden Martin also considered Tennessee coming out of high school.

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.