Vanderbilt LB Ethan Barr intends to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

Vanderbilt linebacker Ethan Barr announced on his Twitter page on Sunday evening that he intends to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. He was a team captain this season for the ‘Dores and racked up three tackles for loss and 55 tackles in the 2023 campaign.

Forever grateful🙏🏼❤️ pic.twitter.com/9iKAlNO1WG

— Ethan Barr (@Ethan_BARR10) November 27, 2023

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to play for Vanderbilt University. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to represent this school and football program. I want to thank everyone who has helped me up to this point in my life and my career. Thank you to Coach Lea, Coach Lezysnki and the rest of his staff for helping me develop as a player and as a person. I will forever be proud to have been a Commodore! I will be entering my name into the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. I’m excited for what is to come!”

–Ethan Barr #32

As a junior (2022), Barr racked up 42 tackles and two tackles for loss, playing in all 12 games. His sophomore year (2021), he posted his best numbers, racking up 85 total tackles, four pass breakups, three interceptions, and two quarterback hurries.

As a high school prospect, Barr enjoyed a prolific career for Marcus High School (Flower Mound, Texas). He tallied more than 300 tackles in his high school career, racking up over 100 tackles in both his junior and senior year. As a senior, he led his team to an 11-2 season and the third round of the 6A state playoffs.

He was rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 190 overall linebacker in America in the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

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 Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.