Notre Dame linebacker officially enters NCAA Transfer Portal

It was reported on Saturday that Notre Dame senior linebacker Shayne Simon was entering the NCAA Transfer Portal. Now, he has officially appeared in the portal, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Simon tweeted a departing message to Notre Dame on Saturday, announcing his intention to enter the portal.

“To the Notre Dame Family, Coaches, Training, and Support Staff, Thank you for all you do to make Notre Dame the uniquely special place it is,” he wrote. “To my teammates, thank you for creating an amazing brotherhood that has carried this program to greater heights. Coach Freeman, thank you, especially, for your support. I have made the decision to enter my name into the transfer portal as I continue my college football journey. I am excited to close out my Notre Dame career by helping my teammates finish as Fiesta Bowl Champions.”

Simon is a former On3 Consensus four-star recruit. He chose Notre Dame over Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and others. In his four-year Notre Dame career, Simon totaled 27 tackles, three tackles for loss, and five passes defended. He only played in one game this season.

Transfer portal background information for Notre Dame

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.