Report: Arizona State wide receiver Ricky Pearsall down to three schools

Arizona State wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is reportedly down to three final schools, with two coming from the SEC and another to stay on the west coast in the Pac-12. The Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, and Oregon Ducks are still in the running for Pearsall with a decision looming.

Florida hosted Pearsall over the weekend, as head coach Billy Napier showed him around Gainesville. Trips surrounding Auburn and Oregon are not yet known and he goes through the transfer portal process for the first time in his collegiate career.

Pearsall has been in the transfer portal for just under two weeks and has been a popular name for programs across the country. He will be entering his fourth season of college football but will have at least two years of eligibility remaining thanks to NCAA rules. Whoever lands Pearsall will be acquiring one of the Pac-12’s top weapons.

Leading Arizona State in receiving last year, Pearsall had 48 catches for 580 yards and four touchdowns.

Transfer portal background information for Ricky Pearsall, final three schools

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.