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Southern Miss DB Michael Caraway Jr. commits to Florida

79417-removebg-preview (1)by:Corey Bender•about 11 hours•

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Maddie Washburn/Florida Athletics

Southern Miss cornerback Michael Caraway Jr. is now off the market, as the transfer defensive back has officially committed to the Florida Gators. Caraway officially visited Billy Napier’s program Thursday and Friday.

He announced the commitment via Twitter.

A native of Mississippi, Caraway finished the 2024 season with 37 tackles (24 solo), one pass breakup and one fumble recovery. He measures in at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds. Caraway has one year of eligibility remaining after playing three seasons at Southern Miss and Pearl River Community College and Southwest Mississippi Community College before that.

Caraway entered the transfer portal on Dec. 30. In his three seasons with Southern Miss, he posted 70 total tackles (48 solo) and seven pass breakups.

Florida Gators scholarship chart before adding Caraway (* — denotes redshirt)

PositionTotalSeniorJuniorsSophomoresFreshmen
Cornerback6Devin MooreDijon JohnsonCormani McClain*Jameer Grimsley*
Teddy Foster*
Ben Hanks III (incoming freshman)

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. 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.

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