Jeffrey M'Ba plans to transfer from Auburn football

AUBURN — Auburn junior defensive lineman Jeffrey M’Ba plans to transfer from the football program.

M’Ba announced the news on Thursday afternoon via social media, with an excerpt saying:

“I am grateful to have been a part of the Auburn Tigers community. My time in Auburn has taught me lessons that extend far beyond the football field…

“The time has come for me to enter the transfer portal and take the next step as a football player. It’s time for me to start my next chapter of life!”

M’Ba thanked former coach Bryan Harsin, the current coaching staff, his teammates and the city of Auburn for embracing and supporting him throughout his time on campus.

M’Ba’s name can be officially entered into the portal when the spring window opens on April 15.

The 6-foot-6, 300-pound lineman arrived at Auburn before the 2022 season. He came from Independence Community College in Kansas as the nation’s No. 1 junior college defensive lineman. M’Ba played in nine games last season for the Tigers, recording six tackles, one sack and one tackle for loss.

Upon the arrival of new defensive coordinator Ron Roberts and new defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett, M’Ba moved from defensive tackle to defensive end.

M’Ba said this during spring camp:

“Well, It’s been great to be honest. I’m happy about it,” he said. “I feel like it’s a new team now, since we’ve got a new coaching staff, we’ve got new players, we’ve got new facilities obviously. I feel I’m just trying to get better and work on my craft and just get better.”

M’Ba joins linebackers Kameron Brown and Desmond Tisdol as players who have announced their intentions to transfer this spring. The spring transfer portal runs April 15-30.

Thoughts on Jeffrey M’Ba’s decision

Exiting spring, Jeffrey M’Ba was certainly in position for legitimate playing time this fall. How much playing time was to be determined. Kentucky transfer Justin Rogers solidified his spot at defensive tackle. Returner Jayson Jones is also playing tackle, while veteran returner Marcus Harris is playing both tackle and defensive end. Even Maryland transfer Mosiah Nasili-Kite came on late in the spring and earned praise from head coach Hugh Freeze. It’s certainly possible that M’Ba was looking at another season with relatively limited snaps. Meanwhile, he seems to possess the talent and stature to transfer and earn significant snaps elsewhere.

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.

Track transfer portal activity

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.