Transfer lineman Travis Gray finds new home with New Mexico after being pushed out of Colorado by Deion Sanders

Out of all the players who left Deion Sanders‘ Colorado squad via the NCAA Transfer Portal, the story of Travis Gray may be the most fascinating.

A Colorado legacy, Gray’s father is Lamarr Gray, an outside linebacker on the Buffaloes 1990 national championship team. When Gray entered the portal, he explained to David Ubben of The Athletic how Sanders gave him the blunt news that he needed to leave the program.

“I was like, ‘Oh, God.’ I saw the mean mug in his face,” Gray told Ubben. “He [Sanders] told me, ‘You’re 6-foot-8, 320 pounds. I know in my heart of hearts a school is going to pick you up in the portal when you enter. Make your weaknesses your strengths and keep progressing. I hope you have a great future, it just won’t be here at the University of Colorado.’”

Well, we now know where Gray will be making a name for himself, as he’s taking his talents to the University of New Mexico, as he announced on Twitter on Monday.

Committed!! 🐺 @CoachGonzUNM @Coach_Cam71 @bryantvincent44 @SixZeroAcademy #GoLobos #DungeonFamily pic.twitter.com/bmvxL8QAFv

— Travis Gray (@TravisRGray) May 22, 2023

Alas, Gray won’t be missing having Sanders as his head coach, as he claimed the NFL legend acted more like a motivational speaker than anything over his short time with him in Boulder.

“No relationship with him at all. I said what’s up to him a few times,” said Gray. “I’m not sure he knew the names of half the kids he got rid of. He was worried about who he brought in.

“If you were on the 1-11 team, it seemed like he didn’t really care about us at all. He already said he was going to get rid of 25-30 of us, and that’s exactly what he did.”

Now, Gray will hope to make New Mexico his home, believing Sanders messed up when getting rid of his talents.

Moreover, Travis Gray played high school football at Cherokee Trail in Colorado, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 99 offensive tackle recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

NCAA 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.