Gonzaga, Michigan among early teams to contact West Virginia transfer Jose Perez

Former West Virginia guard Jose Perez is officially in the transfer portal, and a couple of big-time programs have already reached out.

According to Joe Tipton of On3, Michigan and Gonzaga have contacted Perez about joining their program. Those were the first two schools to reach out to Perez after he entered the portal, according to Tipton. Perez would be a great pick up for either school as he is supremely talented, despite being forced to sit out the 2022-23 season.

Perez left West Virginia without ever playing in a game for the Mountaineers. He joined the program last offseason as a transfer from Manhattan. He also previously played at Gardner-Webb and Marquette.

The hope was that Perez would receive a waiver and be eligible to play this past season. However, the waiver was denied. Now he is leaving the West Virginia program after Bob Huggins resigned last month.

Prior to joining the West Virginia program, Jose Perez starred at Manhattan. During the 2021-22 season, Perez averaged 18.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, while earning All-MAAC honors.

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.