South Carolina transfer Jermaine Couisnard commits to Oregon

South Carolina transfer Jermaine Couisnard has committed to Oregon, he tells On3.

“The University of Oregon had everything I was looking for, plus amazing fans, facilities, and academics. In addition, the opportunity to play heavy minutes, and amazing NIL opportunities sealed the deal.

“My decision became very clear when Dillon Brooks from the Memphis Grizzlies reached out to me right after his game the other night to tell me that Oregon was a great school, and how he could see me prospering in their basketball program. I am big on family, and he made me feel like family in that moment.  He told me once a Duck, Always a Duck, and that was something I wanted to experience. 

“Coach Dana Altman clearly showed me how I would fit into his program, grow as a player, and be successful. I could tell it wasn’t your typical recruitment sales pitch, the entire staff really made me feel like a priority.

“The most important factor was Coach Chuck Martin, who recruited me at South Carolina, and he is now the new Assistant Coach at Oregon.  I know Coach Chuck Martin wholeheartedly believes in me, and I am excited to go into this next chapter with him as an Oregon Duck.”

Couisnard ultimately chose the Ducks over Maryland and Ohio State. He also received interest from Gonzaga, Houston, DePaul, and UMass.

Stay up to date on the latest news with On3’s Transfer Portal Wire.

The junior guard averaged 12 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists with the Gamecocks this season. He also scored a career-high 33 points against LSU earlier this year.

The 6-foot-4 East Chicago, Indiana native was considered a three-star prospect coming out of high school. He chose the South Carolina Gamecocks over Illinois, Louisville, Virginia Tech, UMass, and others.

See the top available prospects with On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings.

More on the Transfer Portal

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.

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.