LSU WR Jack Bech to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

LSU wide receiver Jack Bech will enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, he announced on Tuesday. The Lafayette, La. native played in 25 games as a Tiger, including a terrific freshman campaign in 2021.

“I would like to thank LSU for the opportunity to play the sport I love at the university I’ve loved since I could hold a football,” Bech said in his tweet. “I want to thank everyone who believed in me and supported me throughout my journey here. In every stage of life there’s change and I feel that my opportunity to grow as a player is elsewhere.

“This has been the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make and a lot of thought and prayer has gone into my decision. With that being said, I’m entering my name into the transfer portal.”

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Bech has recorded 14 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown this season. He’s battled injuries throughout the offseason into the regular season that held back opportunities.

In 2021, alongside star Kayshon Boutte, Bech started seven of 13 game appearances. He led the team in receptions with 43 and ranked third on squad in receiving yards with 489. Bech caught three touchdown passes as a true freshman.

Fellow 2021 signee Malik Nabers leads LSU in receptions and yards. Boutte is second on the team behind Nabers while players like Jaray Jenkins, Brian Thomas Jr., Mason Taylor and Kyren Lacy all rank ahead of Bech in receptions and yards.

Jack Bech was an accomplished prep athlete at St. Thomas More, catching passes from current LSU quarterback Walker Howard, who is redshirting in 2022. Bech won a combined five Louisiana Division II State Championships during his prep career between basketball (3) and football (2).

The four-star prospect capped high school career with 173 receptions for 3,236 yards and 37 touchdowns in 35 games. As a senior, Bech caught 69 passes for 1,391 yards and 16 touchdowns.

According to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, Jack Bech ranked as the No. 309 overall prospect in the country and No. 48 wideout in the nation.

Brian Kelly updates LSU’s approach to the Transfer Portal

Following the SEC Championship, LSU head coach Brian Kelly went into more detail on his plan to attack the NCAA Transfer Portal over the next 45 days.

“They have got to be the right fit first,” Kelly said. “They have to recognize the value of an education from LSU. They have to have the right traits. We are not just open for business. We’re not just putting a sign up saying, hey, we are going to take whoever. They have to be the right fit. I prefer that they are from the state of Louisiana if we can find them. And then we are going to address needs based upon how that freshman class marries into it by the particular needs by position class.

“So we are not going to overload a particular position group. In other words, if we have got three or four wide receivers that are freshmen coming in, you may not see a heavy influence in the portal in that position.

“We are going to develop based upon our freshman class, too. So we are doing this at the same time, and also allowing our program to be younger, too. We want to bring both of these along. We don’t always want to be a turn-it-over program where we are bringing in transfers and turning the program over.

“So we need to grow and you’ve got to do that by recruiting freshmen and giving them the opportunity to step on the field and develop. And you can’t do that if you keep bringing in freshmen at one position and then bringing a portal guy who has got one year and putting it in front of him.”

The Transfer Portal Windows

The NCAA Transfer Portal’s newest rules will allow 60 days per year for student-athletes to enter the portal and maintain immediate eligibility for first-time transfers. For fall sports like football, the window will be split into two periods.

The first, a 45-day period, begins December 5. A second window will be instituted from May 1-15, giving players an option to enter the transfer portal after spring camp. 

The first portal window will close on January 19.

The Transfer Portal Guidelines

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.

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.