Virginia Tech picks up John Camden from transfer portal

Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young was able to get a win via the transfer portal on Monday evening, with small forward John Camden announcing his commitment to the Hokies. Camden comes from the Memphis Tigers after spending just one season with Penny Hardaway’s program.

Camden only played in one game this season for the Tigers, appearing against Tennessee Tech during their nonconference portion of the schedule. He was on the court for a total of two minutes, recording a defensive rebound but did not put up any shots.

Memphis was able to lock Camden down during his recruitment and was a member of their 2021 recruiting class. Other big named programs such as Florida, Miami, and Syracuse were considered to be in the running for the small forward. Virginia Tech was there as well, falling short just a year ago. Now, they acquire Camden through the transfer portal and add a nice piece to their roster.

Transfer portal background information for Camden, Virginia Tech

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.