USC defensive lineman enters transfer portal

USC defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher has entered the transfer portal, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. The former four-star recruit started his career at Alabama and played just one season with USC.

Ishmael Sopsher now looks for a new home, via the transfer portal, for the second consecutive offseason. As he enters the transfer portal for the second time, he will be required to sit out a season unless able to receive a waiver from the NCAA.

The 6-foot-4, 330-pound, Amite, Louisiana native has not posted any collegiate stats for Alabama or USC over the past three seasons.

Despite entering the collegiate ranks as the No. 70 ranked player in the 2019 class and No. 7 defensive lineman, he redshirted his first season and has struggled to reach the field at both stops. During his recruitment, he initially chose Alabama over LSU, Texas A&M and others.

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.

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.