Source: Former Texas A&M EDGE Anthony Lucas eyeing trio of Pac-12 schools

Former Texas A&M EDGE Anthony Lucas is set to make his decision soon, he announced on Instagram on Tuesday afternoon.

Three schools have emerged as possible destinations.

USC, UCLA and Arizona State are the three serious contenders for the former four-star recruit, a source told On3. WeAreSC’s Scott Schrader also submitted a pick Monday for the Trojans to land Lucas.

The No. 42 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, he played high school football at Arizona’s Scottsdale Chaparral.

The move to USC would make sense. The Trojans defense is in need of retooling, especially after allowing Tulane to take a 46-45 lead with seconds left on the clock in the Cotton Bowl. And when USC quarterback Caleb Williams exited in the Pac-12 title game with an injury, the Trojans defense could not hold off Utah.

All options get Anthony Lucas closer to home in Scottsdale, especially Arizona State. Former Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham has taken over in Tempe, landing 21 players through the portal.

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.