Highly rated Oklahoma receiver enters NCAA Transfer Portal

Monday, Oklahoma’s quarterback entered the transfer portal. Tuesday, a Sooners wide receiver followed suit.

Mario Williams, who finished fourth in receiving for the Sooners this year, announced his intention to transfer Tuesday via Twitter.

Williams, a former four-star recruit, had 35 receptions for 380 yards and four touchdowns for the Sooners this year. In the Alamo Bowl, he had two receptions for 33 yards in Oklahoma’s 47-32 win over Oregon.

He headed to Norman as a four-star recruit and the No. 3 wide receiver recruit from the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Mario Williams’ decision comes one day after former five-star recruit Caleb Williams entered the transfer portal. Caleb Williams rose to stardom this year after replacing Spencer Rattler under center. He hasn’t ruled out a return to Oklahoma, though.

If Mario Williams ends up transferring out, it could be quite a hit for the Oklahoma wide receiver room. While top receiver Marvin Mims is due back, Mike Woods is eligible for the NFL Draft, which could make for an interesting decision. Woods was Oklahoma’s No. 2 receiver this year, catching 35 passes for 400 yards.

Oklahoma went 11-2 this year and saw coach Lincoln Riley leave for USC after the regular season. Former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables is getting ready to take over, and he now has to see if he can keep the Sooners’ quarterback and wide receiver around.

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.