Oklahoma State linebacker Mason Cobb plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal

Oklahoma State linebacker Mason Cobb plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he announced on his Twitter account on Saturday afternoon.

Cobb was a third-year player for the Cowboys in 2022 who played in 12 games this season and had a monster year, racking up 96 tackles, 13.0 tackles for a loss, 2.0 sacks, a forced fumble, an interception, a pass breakup and 13 quarterback hurries.

“I want to thank the fans and friends I’ve made for all the love they’ve shown me in my time at OSU,” Cobb wrote. “The Cowboy culture is real and strong. I will forever be grateful for my time in Stillwater.

“After long conversations with family members and mentors, I would like to announce that I have officially entered the transfer portal with 2 years of eligibility left.”

Before arriving at Oklahoma State and subsequently deciding to enter the transfer portal, Mason Cobb was rated as a three-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus recruiting rankings. He was ranked as the No. 1,148 overall player in the nation that cycle, while chekcing in as the No. 131 linebacker in the class and the No. 9 overall player in the state of Utah.

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.