Vanderbilt offensive lineman enters the transfer portal

Vanderbilt Commodores offensive lineman Jason Brooks will be entering the transfer portal at the end of the semester. He played in six games during his time in Nashville, with five of them coming during the 2021 season.

Brooks announced his decision on Monday via Twitter. He thanked Vanderbilt for the opportunity, alongside his coaches and parents for supporting him. You can read the full statement below.

“First off, I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to play football at Vanderbilt University,” Brooks said via Twitter. “I want to thank my parents and coaches for believing in me and motivating me to be great on and off the field for the past two years. Vanderbilt will always be a part of me and my journey. I want to thank the community for welcoming me. With that being said, I will be entering the transfer portal with three years of eligibility left following the spring 2022 semester”

Coming out of high school, Brooks was a three-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus. He ranked as the No. 67 interior offensive line prospect in the 2020 recruiting class and received offers from the likes of Boise State, North Texas, SMU, and UNLV on top of Vanderbilt.

Brooks ranks as the No. 27 interior offensive lineman according to the On3 transfer portal rankings.

Transfer portal background information for Brooks, Vanderbilt Commodores

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.