Rhode Island lineman Ajani Cornelius emerges as hottest player in NCAA Transfer Portal

Rhode Island offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius entered his name in the transfer portal on Tuesday and has rapidly become one of the most sought-after transfer prospects in the country.

Cornelius started 22 games over the past two seasons for the Rams. The right tackle sat out his first two years on campus but took over the starting job at right tackle last year and earned All-CAA first-team honors this year.

Despite playing for the 7-4 FCS squad, Cornelius’s portal entry has caught the attention of top FBS programs such as Oregon and Penn State within the past 48 hours.

Missouri was the first program to extend him an “offer” after he announced he would transfer following three years in Rhode Island.

The 6-foot-5, 310-pound sophomore has also reported offers from Indiana, Minnesota, Syracuse, Louisville, Memphis, Cincinnati, Akron, Marshall, Nebraska, West Virginia, Kansas, Washington State and Virginia.

Thanks to the COVID year granted to all student-athletes for the 2020 season, Cornelius has three years of eligibility remaining to play two seasons.

Ajani Cornelius is a New York native. He played high school football at Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains, N.Y. Coming out of high school, Cornelius had some FBS interest while committed to Howard at one point but ultimately signed with Jim Fleming at Rhode Island.

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 However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship is no longer valid.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.