Syracuse EDGE Leon Lowery commits to Wisconsin

Leon Lowery has committed to Wisconsin, he tells On3.

The former Syracuse EDGE was in Madison this weekend, spending time with Luke Fickell and his staff. The Badgers left an impression, enough to pick up a commitment from one of the top names at the EDGE position to hit the portal.

Lowery had plans to visit Oregon State next weekend and Baylor on Dec. 15, too. He tells On3 that he plans to keep those visits scheduled. Ranked No. 7 at the EDGE position, per On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings, he made 46 tackles for Syracuse in the 2023 season, starting all 12 games.

Wisconsin finished the year No. 31 in the nation in total defense. Under defensive coordinator Mike Tressel, the Badgers finished No. 29 in red zone defense. Lowery finished second on the Syracuse roster with 7.5 tackles for loss this year. He closed out his Syracuse career with 77 tackles, including 14 for loss.

Because Syracuse fired head coach Dino Babers on Nov. 19, the 30-day portal window opened immediately for Lowery and his teammates, fast-tracking his transfer portal recruitment.

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.