Florida Gators infielder Deric Fabian enters transfer portal

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators shortstop Deric Fabian has entered his name into the transfer portal, Gators Online has learned. Fabian, a sophomore, will have two years of eligibility remaining at the college level.

Fabian followed his brother, Jud, to his dream school at the University of Florida. The two shared the field together in 2022 before Jud was selected

Fabian played in 46 games as a true freshman including 43 starts in the Gators’ infield. He slashed .218/.323/.331 with four home runs, four doubles, 25 runs, 22 RBI, and four stolen bases. His most notable home run came in the form of a game-winning home run to left field in the top of the 10th inning at Vanderbilt on April 17. He and his brother both homered in the same game.

Fabian was having a great fall, leading the Gators in batting, before he was hit by a pitch in the face that forced him to have surgery and miss extended time. When he returned, Fabian found himself was stuck in a timeshare. Fabian played in just 22 games as a sophomore, making 10 starts. He hit .289 with two home runs and nine RBI in limited action.

Deric Fabian and other Florida Gators transfer portal news

OUT

C: Rene Lastres

C: Salvy Alvarez

LHP: Carsten Finnvold

RHP: Yoel Tejada (committed to Florida State)

RHP: Anthony Ursitti

INF: Deric Fabian

IN

RHP Kelly Austin

C Tanner Garrison

INF Colby Shelton

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.

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.