Super Senior linebacker from USC enters transfer portal

USC linebacker Hunter Echols has officially entered the transfer portal, On3’s Matt Zenitz reported. A fifth-year senior, Echols finished this season with 20 tackles.

A former four-start recruit, Echols was the No. 89 overall player in the 2017 class according to On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He committed to the Trojans over offers from Oklahoma, Nebraska and others.

Echols joins Trojans defensive tackle Jacob Lichtenstein as the second USC player to enter the portal Monday. For a complete list of transfer portal entries, check out On3’s transfer portal tracker.

USC recently hired Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley to take over the program for the 2022 season. Echols is the fourth Trojans player to enter the portal since Riley was hired. USC linebacker Danny Lockhart Jr. and Spencer Gilbert entered the transfer portal on Nov. 29.

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.