LSU TE Jackson McGohan enters NCAA Transfer Portal

2023 LSU tight end addition Jackson McGohan is entering the NCAA Transfer Portal after one season in Baton Rouge, On3 learned on Wednesday. He played in eight games for the Tigers in 2023, but didn’t record a statistic.

Coming out of Miamisburg (Ohio), McGohan was a one-time Cincinnati pledge, who flipped to the Tigers. McGohan held offers from Auburn, Miami, Iowa, Oklahoma and others.

According to On3, Jackson McGohan ranks as the No. 26 overall tight end in the nation and No. 15 prospect in Ohio. According to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, he was the No. 29 overall tight end in the country.

On3 scouting assistant Cody Bellaire saw the athletic traits LSU did when offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock went up into the Midwest to real him in.

“Explosive offensive weapon at tight end who checks all the boxes when it comes to athletic traits for the position. Stands in at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds with a 6-foot-6 wingspan,” Bellaire told The Bengal Tiger. “Not as long or towering as you would like to be a physical mismatch, but has good density to his frame and is built solid. Ran an electronically-timed 4.89 40-yard dash during the spring camp circuit prior to his senior season. Also jumped a freakish 6-foot-2 high jump during his junior track and field campaign.”

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

More 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.