Former Arkansas TE Dax Courtney enters NCAA Transfer Portal, apparently ends medical retirement

Former Arkansas tight end Dax Courtney has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. Courtney had previously medically retired from football.

Courtney spent one season in Fayetteville with Arkansas and didn’t play a snap. He announced his medical retirement at the beginning of August last year.

“It’s with tears in my eyes that I announce I have been medically retired,” read Courtney’s official statement. “The sport I’ve put my heart into for 19 years is now over for me as a player. Football has been my life for as long as I can remember and will always be my number one story piece, but due to countless [injuries] I have sustained I have to start thinking about life after football. First and foremost I want to thank God for granting me the abilities to play this game and for giving me the opportunity to live my dream of being a Razorback.

“Secondly, I want to thank my dad for I know this hurts you just as bad as it hurts me, for my whole life this was the main thing we were able to have a strong bond through. You have put just as much if not more into my game than I have and I truly cannot tell you thank you enough. Thank you to the Razorback coaching staff for recruiting me here and doing everything y’all could to make sure I had a good career, I apologize for not being able to fulfill the goals we had set out to do. Thank you to Razorback nation for being the best/most supportive fanbase on the planet, and supporting me for the past 2 years.”

Courtney was a three-star prospect in the Class of 2022 according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He played high school football at De Witt (AR) High School and chose to stay home and play for the Razorbacks. The No. 972 overall prospect in his class, things of course did not work as planned for Courtney at Arkansas.

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.

Track transfer portal activity

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.