Recent bowl game MVP quarterback enters transfer portal

Tuesday night, Levi Williams was named the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl MVP. Less than 24 hours later, he decided to transfer from Wyoming.

Williams entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, On3’s Matt Zenitz has learned. The decision comes after quite a showing in Wyoming’s 52-48 win over Kent State in the Potato Bowl.

In the air, Williams went just 9 for 11 for 127 yards and a touchdown. But he did plenty of work on the ground, taking 16 carries for 200 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Cowboys’ rushing attack. He earned MVP honors for his performance, leading Wyoming to the victory.

Williams was Wyoming’s second-leading passer this season behind Sean Chambers. He was also the Cowboys’ third-leading rusher, totaling 317 rushing yards on 56 carries prior to the Potato Bowl.

Williams was a three-star recruit from the Class of 2019 and the No. 67 quarterback in the class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

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.