Florida Gators add infielder Armando Albert from FAU in the transfer portal

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators gained a commitment from former FAU Owl infielder Armando Albert. The rising senior announced the commitment on his Instagram Saturday night.

Allen graduated high school from Belen Jesuit Prep and enrolled at Santa Fe Community College in 2021. He hit .312 with a .417 OBP in one season with the Saints. Albert transferred to FAU prior to the 2022 season. As a sophomore, he started 55 games for the Owls. He reached base successfully in each of his first 36 games and led FAU with 45 walks. As a junior in 2023 he started and led off in all but two games. Albert finished the season batting .272 with a .425 on base percentage. Albert finished the season on a 31-game reached base streak.

The Gators have added three infielders in the transfer portal this offseason, most notably Alabama infielder Colby Shelton. Florida also returns Dale Thomas and Tyler Shelnut. Both players are infielders but have experience playing outfield last season. The addition of these players, along with Shelnut’s ability to play infield or outfield, give the Gators a lot of flexibility.

Florida baseball players in the transfer portal with Armando Albert

Players added

Colby Shelton – INF – Alabama
Tanner Garrison – C – Coastal Carolina
Brody Donay – C – Virginia Tech
Landon Russell – INF – Gulf Coast
Jaylen Guy – OF – Liberty
Armando Albert – INF – FAU

Players departed

Anthony Ursitti – RHP – Florida Gulf Coast University
Deric Fabian – SS – Auburn
Rene Lastres – C – Charolette
Matthew Prevesk – OF – UCF
Tyler Nesbitt – RHP – UCF
Clete Hartzog – RHP – Troy
Yoel Tejada – RHP – FSU
Chris Arroyo – LHP – TBD
Salvy Alzarez – C – Florida Southwestern
Erik Blair – OF – TBD
Carsten Finnvold – LHP – UCF

Background on the transfer portal

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.

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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.

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