Notre Dame WR enters transfer portal after opting out of 2021 season

Notre Dame wide receiver Lawrence Keys III entered the transfer portal Thursday afternoon. The former four-star prospect had previously opted out of the season.

“More of a procedural matter than anything else, but Notre Dame WR Lawrence Keys III entered the transfer portal this afternoon,” Matt Fortuna of The Athletic tweeted. “Keys, a former four-star prospect from New Orleans, had elected in September to sit out the remainder of this season. He will graduate in December.”

Lawrence Keys III was a four-star prospect from McDonogh 35 (Louisiana) coming out of the 2018 recruiting class. Keys committed to Notre Dame over the likes of SMU, Texas, LSU and Georgia. Keys held 34 total offers as a recruit.

In his Notre Dame career, Lawrence Keys III appeared in 21 games, recording 18 receptions for 185 yards, along with six carries for 45 yards. In the 2019 season, Keys also contributed as a kick returner, recording 194 kick return yards.

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.