Texas Tech linebacker enters transfer portal Friday

Texas Tech linebacker Brandon Bouyer-Randle has entered the transfer portal, On3’s Matt Zenitz reports. He spent the past two seasons in Lubbock after transferring from Michigan State in 2020.

A native of Battle Creek, Michigan, Bouyer-Randle was a three-star recruit in 2016. He ranked as the No. 52 linebacker according to On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

In 14 games throughout his career with the Red Raiders, Bouyer-Randle tallied 51 tackles, six passes defended and a sack. He set career highs in 2018 at Michigan State with four sacks and two forced fumbles.

Texas Tech ended this past season with a 7-6 record following a Liberty Bowl victory against Mississippi State and former Red Raiders coach Mike Leach. They open up the 2022 season on Sept. 3 against Murray State.

Transfer portal background information for Texas Tech, Brandon Bouyer-Randle

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.