Former Penn State receiver Justin Weller announces his commitment for 2022

Former Penn State Nittany Lion wide receiver Justin Weller has just announced his commitment for the 2022 season. Weller will head to Long Island University and join the Sharks for 2022. The former Nittany Lion announced his decision with this message.

“So happy to announce my commitment to Long Island University! I can’t thank coach Coop, coach Jrob, coach DJ, and all the other coaches at LIU for their confidence in my ability both on and off the field. I also want to thank Dean Bates and all involved in academics for making this academic and professional decisions so special. LIU is going to provide a unique opportunity like no other,” wrote Weller.

While he appeared in just 12 games over his collegiate career at Penn State, he is known for his off-the-field accomplishments. Weller might not have been one of the highest-ranked players in On3’s transfer portal player ranking, but he is one of the sharpest. He earned Academic All-Big Ten honors three times while at Penn State. Weller spent five seasons with the Nittany Lions. He has one year remaining of eligibility.

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.