New Mexico State forward Will McNair, Jr. transferring to Misssissippi State

New Mexico State forward Will McNair Jr. officially announced he will transfer to the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday afternoon. In transferring to Mississippi State from New Mexico State, he follows his old head coach with the Aggies, Chris Jans.

McNair averaged 6.6 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Aggies last season. McNair also tallied two double-doubles for the Aggies and helped guide them to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

He’s expected to help add depth to the Bulldogs front court behind Tolu Smith at the center position. McNair is the second prospect Mississippi State has reeled in from the transfer portal this offseason, joining former Oregon State point guard Dashawn Davis.

New Mexico State forward Will McNair Jr Will transfer to Mississippi State

He Averaged 6.6 points and 4.9 rebounds. pic.twitter.com/i15dXybjJL

— Tobias Bass (@tobias_bass) April 15, 2022

For all the latest information and updates on where college basketball prospects are headed this offseason, keep it locked to the 2022 On3 Transfer Portal Wire.

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.