Penn State loses KeAndre Lambert-Smith to college football transfer portal

The college football transfer portal gets a major player as wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith is set to leave Penn State in 2024.

Sep 23, 2023; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith. / Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Ex-Penn State wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith is set to enter the college football transfer portal when the spring transfer window opens this week, according to multiple reports.

Reports emerged late last week that Lambert-Smith had been away from the team and was considering leaving Penn State, and now it appears those rumors are true.

Lambert-Smith led Penn State with 53 receptions a year ago, and he posted 126 career grabs during his career with the Nittany Lions.

A year ago, he amassed 673 yards and scored four touchdowns, and in his four seasons at the school had 1,721 yards and 11 total touchdown receptions.

How the college football transfer portal works

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.

A player can enter their name into the transfer portal through their school's compliance office.

Once a player gives written notification of their intent to transfer, the office puts the player's name into the database, and they officially become a transfer.

The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player's request and NCAA rules forbid anyone from refusing that request.

The database includes the player's name, contact information, info on whether the player was on scholarship, and if he is a graduate student.

Once a player's name appears in the transfer portal database, other schools are free to contact the player, who can change his mind at any point in the process and withdraw from the transfer portal.

Notably, once a player enters the portal, his school no longer has to honor the athletic scholarship it gave him.

And if that player decides to leave the portal and return to his original school, the school doesn't have to give him another scholarship.

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