Michigan State RB Jordon Simmons plans to enter transfer portal, per Harlon Barnett

Michigan State running back Jordon Simmons plans to enter the transfer portal, interim head coach Harlon Barnett revealed Monday. Simmons was in his fourth year with the program and will not be able to officially enter the portal until the end of the season.

“This morning, Jordan Simmons came up and said he wants to jump in the portal,” Barnett said in his Monday press conference. “With that being said, he’s off the team. It wasn’t nothing bad. He went and talked to his parents over the bye week and we said, ‘OK, that’s fine.'”

Over his career with the Spartans, Simmons played 34 games and totaled 520 yards on 137 carries. His best season came as a sophomore in 2021, when he played all 13 games and finished with 278 yards rushing in addition to six catches for 22 yards and a touchdown.

However, the running back saw a reduced role over the past two years. So far this season, he’s managed just 14 yards across four games.

Simmons was a three-star recruit coming out of McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Georgia. He ranked as the No. 563 overall player and No. 54 running back in the 2020 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

With the news that Jordon Simmons plans to transfer, Michigan State shouldn’t be too affected as it should continue to lean on bell cow back Nate Carter. The Spartans next face Rutgers at noon ET on Saturday.

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

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.