Colorado wide receiver Maurice Bell announces plans to withdraw from transfer portal

Colorado wide receiver Maurice Bell announced on Sunday night that he plans to withdraw his name from the NCAA transfer portal. It was just three days ago that the senior revealed that he would transfer after five years with the program. However, on Saturday night, news broke that former Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders had taken the open head coaching job.

Bell isn’t the only one considering new possibilities since Sanders became the new Buffs head coach. USF transfer wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. announced four planned visits on Saturday: Colorado, Penn State, Houston and Texas A&M.

Sanders also landed his first commitment on Sunday. Fort Meyers (Fla.) IMG Academy four-star wide receiver and class of 2025 recruit Winston Watkins Jr. committed to the Buffaloes. He was previously committed to Texas A&M for 11 months before backing off his commitment last year.

🚨After further discussion, I will be WITHDRAWING my name from the NCAA portal. #GoBuffs 🚨 pic.twitter.com/zBISjQ5jAg

— MO MONEY (@SwavyMo) December 4, 2022

Maurice Bell signed with Colorado in the 2017 class out of Murrieta Valley High in California. He was a three-star prospect, according to the On3 Consensus. He had his most productive season in 2021, recording 10 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. In 2022, he posted 13 catches for 42 yards, as well as 17 yards on three rushing attempts.

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 starts with the 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.

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 However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship is no longer valid. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school does not have to cover their scholarship.

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 for a “do not contact” tag on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want contact from schools unless they initiate the communication.