Michigan State receiver Terry Lockett Jr announces intention to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

Michigan State wide receiver Terry Lockett, Jr. announced his intention to enter the transfer portal, he wrote on his Instagram page on Thursday evening. The news does not come as much of a surprise, since Lockett was not listed on the Michigan State roster as of Oct. 8, according to a team spokesman. He didn’t play in a single game during the 2022 season. During his career with the Spartans, he hauled in four catches for 22 receiving yards. Lockett also played in a total of 15 career games. On Thursday evening, he made the news official and posted a message to his Instagram page.

💚 pic.twitter.com/AljUnUHWSG

— Terry Lockett jr. (@lockett3_t) November 3, 2022

“Coach Dantonio, Coach Tuck, and the entire coaching staff I want to say thank you! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to fulfill a dream. To be a Spartan! MSU will forever be a special place to me. To my teammates, Not all decisions are easy to make, and this one is difficult. I’m grateful for the friendships we’ve built, and proud to call you my brothers. I would like to take this moment to announce that I have decided to continue my student athlete journey, by entering the transfer portal. I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes me! Michigan State, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, and GO GREEN!” Lockett wrote.

Coming out of Minnehaha Academy (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Lockett was ranked as the No. 17 athlete in the country for the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. He was also rated as a three-star prospect.

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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.