Miami safety Jalen Harrell announces intention to enter NCAA transfer portal

Miami is set to lose some safety depth when the transfer portal window opens. Jalen Harrell announced his intention to transfer Wednesday night.

Harrell made the announcement via Twitter, confirming he’s planning to enter the portal once the window opens Dec. 5. He played 21 snaps on defense over his three years, according to The Athletic’s Manny Navarro. He is the second Hurricane to announce his intention to transfer, joining fellow Florida native Allan Haye.

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“I would like to thank the entire University of Miami program for giving me the opportunity to attend the ‘U,'” Harrell wrote. “The relationships with my coaches, advisors and most of all, my teammates will forever be special to me.

“After much thought, prayers and discussions with my family, I have decided to enter the transfer portal effective December 5th, 2022. I was born and raised in Miami and I will always have love for the ‘U.’ Best wishes Miami.”

Harrell is a former four-star recruit and was the No. 220 prospect in the nation from the class of 2020, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

In August, the NCAA voted to adopt transfer portal windows, meaning players can’t enter until those dates. For football, that date is Dec. 5 because that’s the day after conference championships, and players have 45 days to enter the portal after that. If they don’t by then, they’ll have to wait until May 1.

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.