Former Alabama running back Camar Wheaton announces transfer destination

Former Alabama running back Camar Wheaton, who sat out the 2021 season with injuries, announced his commitment to SMU on Tuesday afternoon via social media. The former four-star recruit now gets a fresh start in his home state of Texas.

Stay up to date on the latest news with On3’s Transfer Portal Wire.

The 5-foot-11 freshman came to Alabama as the No. 41 ranked recruit in the 2021 recruiting class, according to On3’s consensus rankings. He also ranked as the fourth best running back in the class and  the eighth best running back in the class.

#Committed #PonyUp pic.twitter.com/JnJ0PXeI0u

— Camar Wheaton (@CamarWheaton) April 12, 2022

See the top available prospects with On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings.

SMU will feature Camar Wheaton in a new-look offense as new head coach Rhett Lashlee brings in new players to fit his scheme while building off the Mustangs 8-4 record in 2021.

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.

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.