LB Jestin Jacobs commits to Oregon Ducks

Former Iowa Hawkeyes’ linebacker Jestin Jacobs officially announced his commitment on Sunday afternoon via his Twitter page. Jacobs officially committed to play for the Oregon Ducks. He jumped in the transfer portal and finally settled on a school on Sunday afternoon. He was rated as a four-star prospect in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.

The 6-foot-4, 235-pound linebacker was one of the top transfer prospects in the portal. Jacobs is currently listed as the No. 17 linebacker prospect in the 2023 On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. He was being discussed as an NFL prospect before an injury cut his 2022 season short in the second game. In the 2021-2022 season, he suited up in 14 games for the Iowa Hawkeyes, racking up 53 total tackles and one interception.

A dream come true 💚🦆 #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/tVUnysYnY9

— Jestin Jacobs (@jestinjacobs__) December 11, 2022

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 must 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 during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.