Louisville transfer DL Jermayne Lole announces visits

Louisville defensive lineman Jermayne Lole announced plans Wednesday night for his four transfer portal visits.

He spent three seasons at Arizona State where he spent three seasons before transferring to Louisville in May 2022. The defensive lineman will visit Oklahoma this weekend for the spring game before visiting Washington on April 22.

Since he’s an ACC transfer, he is free to transfer to SEC schools. The grad transfer also announced he will visit Texas A&M on April 24 and USC on April 26. Lole has appeared in 40 career games with the Sun Devils and Cardinals, tallying 141 total tackles, 25 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.

Lole was a preseason All-Pac-12 selection before the 2021 season. His best year in an Arizona State uniform came in 2019 when he had 71 tackles and 6.5 sacks as a sophomore.

Oklahoma is also scheduled to host defensive linemen transfers Damonic Williams and Philip Blidi.

What is the transfer portal?

The spring transfer portal window is just 15 days, a crammed period that could reshape the 2024 college football offseason. The portal tool was launched in 2018 to allow athletes to be more involved in the process of transferring. Athletes must notify institutions of their intent to transfer. Each school’s compliance team has 48 hours to put a name into the portal. 

A total of 538 FBS scholarship players put their names in the transfer portal on Day 1 of the winter window in December. That number is not expected to be as high, in part because plenty of high-profile programs are still going through spring practice. 

After an athlete is officially in the portal, there is no rush on making a decision as long as they are properly enrolled at a new institution in time for fall camp. Commitments do not have to be made during the 15-day window. Grad transfers are allowed to enter the portal at any time. 

Roster retention will be crucial for programs, with NIL playing a vital role in keeping rosters together in the new age of college football. Exactly 645 FBS players transferred in last year’s spring window.