BREAKING: Jackson State transfer wide receiver Shane Hooks commits to Auburn

Jackson State transfer wide receiver Shane Hooks has committed to Auburn football.

Hooks, who previously was committed to Ole Miss, made his decision on Sunday, according to source close to his recruitment. His decision comes after a two-day visit to Auburn on May 16-17.

Hooks entered the transfer portal in December shortly after the departure of former JSU coach Deion Sanders, who left to become the head coach at Colorado. He committed to the Rebels on April 20, but it only lasted eight days. Hooks reopened his recruitment on April 28.

According to his Twitter, in addition to Auburn, Hooks also had offers from Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Colorado, Liberty, Cincinnati, Utah and UCF, among others.

Last season at JSU, Hooks led JSU in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown receptions. He finished with 66 catches for 775 yards and 10 touchdowns. He had two touchdown receptions in four different games.

Hooks, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, played his high school ball at Olympia in Orlando, Fla. He was a three-tar recruit in the 2018 class. He redshirted at JSU in 2018 and did not play in the 2019 or 2020 seasons. In 2021, he had 16 receptions for 199 yards and two touchdowns.

Hooks is a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility.

Hooks is the third transfer wide receiver addition for Auburn this spring and fourth overall since Hugh Freeze took over in late November. He joins Caleb Burton, Jyaire Shorter and Nick Mardner.

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.

Transfer portal history

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.

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.