Report: Auburn transfer Yohan Traore hearing from Alabama, others

Auburn transfer Yohan Traore is hearing from a lengthy list of teams since he entered the transfer portal, he told recruiting analyst Andrew Slater. A bitter rival is among them, as well.

Alabama has reached out to Traore after he entered the portal March 30. Memphis, LSU, Oklahoma, TCU, Arizona State, Cincinnati, NC State, Saint Louis, DePaul and UC Santa Barbara have also contacted the former four-star recruit.

Traore entered the portal Friday after telling On3’s Joe Tipton about his intention to transfer. He appeared in 25 games for Auburn this past year as a freshman, averaging 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. He provided a statement to On3 regarding his plans to enter the portal.

“I am grateful to be a part of the Auburn Tiger community,” Traore said. “My time in Auburn has taught me lessons that extend far beyond the basketball court. I have given 100% to the University on and off of the court. A heartfelt thanks to Coach Pearl for recruiting me and giving me the opportunity to play at Auburn. I also want to thank the entire Auburn staff for giving me the opportunity to play under their leadership this past year. To my teammates, thank you for always being by my side, you guys have become family to me.

“Most importantly I would like to thank the Auburn community for embracing and supporting me throughout my time here. I will always remember and appreciate you, but the time has come for me to enter the transfer portal and take that next step as a basketball player. Thank you all for respecting my decision. WarDamnEagle!”

Traore is a former four-star recruit and was the No. 23-ranked recruit in the nation from the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. On3’s own evaluators were higher on him, though, ranking him as a five-star and the nation’s No. 13 overall prospect.

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

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.