Florida transfer Ethan White will not play for USC due to an 'injury situation,' Lincoln Riley says

USC head coach Lincoln Riley on Thursday shared some more insight into why Florida offensive lineman Ethan White wouldn’t be transferring to the Trojans, after all. White is dealing with what Riley called “an injury situation” that could potentially end his playing career after further evaluations.

“Ethan, I think, unfortunately, there’s an injury there that — to the best of my knowledge right now — the plan is to, you know, I think kind of reevaluating, you know, if he’s gonna play football further, and that’s kind of the chief reason that we’re in this,” Riley said. “I don’t want to take any announcement, or any take away any of his ability to communicate it on his own terms, but there’s an injury situation that looks like it’s going to prevent him from playing further and I’ll let him take it from there. We were excited to get him but it’s football and certainly, these things come up and we get it. There’s football and then there’s also long-term health and we understand guys have got to make those decisions and the best decisions for themselves. Disappointed for that but that’s, again, that’s unfortunately part of this game.”

On3’s Matt Zenitz reported on Wednesday evening that White would not be transferring to USC. After committing to the Trojans in January, the Gators offensive lineman was planning to head west at the conclusion of spring practice. He was expected to have a shot at becoming a starter along the offensive line. Those plans are, of course, now in flux if not scuttled entirely in light of what Riley shared.

His tweet announcing his commitment to USC is no longer up.

White was a starting guard and AP second-team All-SEC selection for Florida last season.

White played high school football at Clearwater (Florida) High School, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 718 overall recruit in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Zenitz also reported that USC and Riley have found a new offensive line target: Cam’Ron Johnson from Houston.

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.