Former Syracuse center Jesse Edwards commits to West Virginia via transfer portal

Jesse Edwards became a hot commodity once he chose to enter the transfer portal and leave Syracuse, and West Virginia is going to be the beneficiary.

The 6-11 big man was a consistent starter over the last two seasons for the Orange, and now he’s taking his talents to the Mountaineers, per Jonathon Givony of ESPN.

“Former Syracuse center Jesse Edwards, ESPN’s No. 3 player in the NCAA transfer portal, has committed to play at West Virginia next season, he told ESPN on Sunday,” wrote Givony.

Moreover, Edwards played 95 games over four years at Syracuse. However, it’s what he has done as a starting upperclassman in the last two that has many so intrigued.

As a junior and senior, Edwards averaged 13.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, and over a steal a game in over 30 minutes per game. He was highly efficient too as he shot 64.4% from the field.

Continuing, Edwards truly broke out as a senior, though, in his 32 games in ’22-’23. Last season, he averaged a double-double of 14.5 points and 10.3 rebounds. He also added 2.7 blocks and 1.4 steals while nearly shooting 60% from the field in almost 33 minutes per game.

That helped Edwards rank highly nationally as he finished 11th in rebounding, sixth in blocks, and Top-25 in both field goal percentage and double-doubles.

“I felt it was time for a fresh start,” Edwards told ESPN. “I needed a new environment to challenge myself in and I think West Virginia is just that.

“I’ve met some great people on my visit here and the campus looks amazing. This team could be something special.”

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.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this article.