Penn State quarterback enters NCAA transfer portal

Penn State quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson announced on Monday that he is entering the NCAA transfer portal.

Shortly after his announcement, On3’s Matt Zenitz confirmed that Roberson is officially in the transfer portal. The NCAA in 2020 granted all student-athletes an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Roberson still has three years of eligibility.

Roberson, a 5-foot-11, 197-pound quarterback was a four-star recruit in the 2019 class via the On3 Consensus. He was ranked the No. 18 quarterback and No. 8 overall prospect in the state of New Jersey. He took a redshirt year as a true freshman in 2019, then only appeared in the season finale in 2020. This season, having played in just three games, Roberson completed 11 of his 28 passing attempts for 85 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, while rushing for 24 yards.

“Thank you Penn State University for the countless, unforgettable memories, and lifelong relationships built these past three years. Thank you Coach Franklin and staff for believing and taking a chance on me,” Roberson wrote on Twitter. “After much thought and consideration, my family and I have decided it is best that I enter my name in the transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining.”

Roberson is the latest to enter the transfer portal in what’s been an incredibly busy offseason to date. For a look at who’s in the transfer portal, click here.

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.