Texas A&M DB Bobby Taylor makes cryptic Instagram post after transfer announcement: 'and don't think I wanted to leave'

Texas A&M sophomore defensive back Bobby Taylor posted a message to his Instagram story on Tuesday evening shortly after he announced he was entering the NCAA transfer portal. His message seemed to indicate that leaving the Aggies wasn’t his desired outcome.

His transfer announcement was quite brief, stating simply that he has four years of eligibility remaining. And he was equally brief in his follow-up on the matter..

“And don’t think I wanted to leave,” Taylor said on his Instagram story. While it seems clear Taylor wished to stay at Texas A&M, what finally pushed him to enter the transfer portal during the April window is not clear.

Taylor announced his transfer on his Twitter account on Tuesday evening. He did not see the field for Texas A&M in his first season after signing in the 2022 class.

Prior to enrolling at Texas A&M and later choosing to enter the NCAA transfer portal, Taylor was a four-star prospect and the No. 226 overall player in the nation in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

He checked in as the No. 25 cornerback in the class and the No. 38 overall player in the state of Texas, hailing from Katy (Texas) High School.

Taylor took this apparent shot at Jimbo Fisher and the Texas A&M coaching staff during an offseason of extensive staff turnover. Notably, Fisher brought in new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, among several staff changes.

Whether Taylor and his issues stemmed from conflicts with new coaches or something bigger — and longer running — remains unknown. But what is pretty obvious now is that Taylor is not pleased with how things ended for him at Texas A&M.

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.

Track portal activity

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.