Washington safety Vincent Holmes withdraws from NCAA Transfer Portal

Washington safety Vincent Holmes has withdrawn from the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3 has learned. His retention is a big win for new head coach Jedd Fisch and his staff.

Holmes, a class of 2023 signee, will have multiple years of eligibility remaining. And this was Holmes’ second flirtation with the portal.

He entered the transfer portal during the January window, only to withdraw shortly after. And this time it was less than a day before Holmes reversed course.

Holmes played high school football at San Jacinto (Calif.) High School, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 290 overall recruit in the 2023 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. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

Background on the transfer portal

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 asynchronous 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.