Texas A&M senior receiver enters transfer portal

Texas A&M has had one of their senior wide receivers enter the transfer portal, according to a new report on Monday from On3’s Matt Zenitz. Caleb Chapman has begun the transfer process, after appearing in six games last season and recording 13 catches for 210 yards.

Texas A&M receiver enters transfer portal

“Texas A&M wide receiver Caleb Chapman has entered the transfer portal, On3 Sports has learned. Had 13 catches last season,” stated Zenitz.

Although his role has increased in the Texas A&M offense each year, Chapman has yet to find a major role on the team. In his three years with the Aggies, Chapman appeared in 11 games and caught 28 passes for three touchdowns. All three of his career touchdowns came in the 2020 season, where Chapman started two games before suffering a season-ending leg injury late in their win over Florida.

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.