Trevor Etienne officially enters the transfer portal

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida sophomore running back Trevor Etienne has entered the transfer portal. Etienne’s departure is a blow for the Gators and Billy Napier.

The sophomore from Jennings, Louisiana finished second in rushing yards in 2022 (719) and 2023 (753). He has 14 touchdowns in two seasons with the Gators. Etienne has been one of Florida’s best players and will be tough to replace.

“Trevor is one of our best. He’s not only one of the best competitors and players that we have, but he’s also one of the better young men in our program. His leadership, his work habits, the way he treats people, I mean he’s a class act. He’s been raised the right way. And he’s an elite competitor,” Billy Napier said of Etienne after the game. “I think you can tell this was special for him, and when given opportunities tonight, you know, he was elite. I thought he showed a spirit about himself, he showed some toughness tonight. So there’s no question, and I’m proud of him. He’s fun to coach, and he’s made our team better since the first day got here and he’ll continue to make the team better in the future.”

The Florida Gators have one running back committed for the 2024 class in Kahnen Daniels. Florida would also like to add another running back into the fold through the transfer portal or high school ranks.

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.