Former Michigan State safety reveals transfer portal decision
The Miami Redhawks announced on Monday that they had secured a commitment from a former junior safety at Michigan State who is an Ohio native. Michael Dowell will be joining the Redhawks for his senior season, having played three seasons and 32 games with the Spartans.
Miami Redhawks recruit from Michigan State
Dowell was recruited by Michigan State in 2018 as a four-star prospect as per On3’s Consensus Ratings. Rated as a top-40 safety in the nation and a top-15 recruit from the state of Ohio, Dowell was redshirted in 2018 by Michigan State.
After three seasons with the Spartans and having played in 32 games, Dowell will be returning to his home state to potentially finish his college career. Dowell leaves Michigan State with 82 career tackles, five pass break-ups and a fumble recovery.
Following the 2021 season, college football’s landscape continues to shuffle around as players transfer schools and take advantage of the transfer portal. On3’s College Football Transfer Portal tracks and updates with player information as they find their new teams.
On3’s College Football Transfer Portal Wire is updated with the latest information regarding new additions to the portal.
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.
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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.