Michigan offensive lineman enters transfer portal

Michigan offensive lineman Chuck Filiaga officially entered the transfer portal on Friday afternoon, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. The 6-foot-6, 337 pound offensive lineman appeared in 39 games during his career with the Wolverines. He had eight starts at left guard and three at right guard.

Filiaga started four games in 2021 and was one of the top backups on one of the best offensive lines in the nation. He was part of a Michigan offensive line that established themselves as one of the best units in college football during the 2021-2022 season. The Wolverines’ rushing attack was one of the nation’s very best–featuring the dynamic running back tandem of Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum. The duo formed the nation’s 15th ranked rushing attack in yards per game (214.3).

After starting all six games during the 2020 season, Filiaga was pushed back to a backup role during the 2021 season. But he still got to start a few games while filling in for injured starters along the interior of Michigan’s offensive line.

Now he’ll look for a new home in the college football landscape in what will be his sixth season. As of today, there are over 1,400 prospects in the transfer portal for college football.

In high school, Filiaga played in the 2017 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He attended Aledo High School (Aledo, Texas) and led them to the 2016 Texas Division II Class 5A State Championship.

When he chose the Wolverines coming out of high school, Filiaga picked them over offers from Alabama, USC, Oklahoma, Florida, and many others.

More on the NCAA Transfer Portal

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.