Source: Yale offensive lineman Jonathan Mendoza plans to enter transfer portal

Yale offensive lineman Jonathan Mendoza plans to enter the transfer portal, a source told On3 on Tuesday afternoon.

The 2023 first-team All-Ivy League lineman is expected to be a name that lands on the radar of multiple Power 5 programs looking to add depth to their line. The 6-foot-9, 308-pounder has one year of eligibility remaining.

A native of Westhampton Beach, New York, Mendoza earned All-Ivy honorable mention a year ago, helping the Bulldogs lead the conference in rushing and total offense. Yale finished second in the league in total offense this year, while averaging 164.5 yards per game on the ground.

The Bulldogs earned a share of the Ivy League championship this past Saturday, finishing the regular season 7-3.

The senior could enter the NFL draft but he plans to enter the transfer portal instead. Playing at a school with a national spotlight could boost Jonathan Mendoza’s draft stock.

Jonathan Mendoza enters portal with linemen at premium

Throughout this past spring’s transfer portal, there was a premium on linemen with experience. That expectation is still there as college football’s December free agency inches closer and closer. Projecting talent at the line of scrimmage is just as hard as identifying a quarterback.

Even if a program brings in a strong class on the offensive or defensive line, it does not mean the team is going to see a significant difference in play immediately. A freshman wide receiver has a better chance of impacting a team’s trajectory than a lineman. 

“Do we want a couple of elite guys who can make up for the guys who are just OK?” an NFL scout previously told On3. “Or do we want five good ones who really know how to play together? Reality is, most of the top linemen are going to the top 10 programs and there’s just not that many.”

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 exsisted 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.