Alabama star Caleb Downs to transfer, SEC rival emerges as favorite
Alabama safety Caleb Downs intends to enter the college football transfer portal after his freshman season and it's expected that Georgia is the likely favorite to earn his commitment for the 2024 season, according to ESPN.
Georgia is considered the favorite to sign Downs as the player hails from the state, playing at Mill Creek High in Hoschton, Ga., and the Bulldogs hired Travaris Robinson from the Tide to serve as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Robinson previously served as cornerbacks coach at Alabama and is regarded as a highly successful presence on the recruiting trail.
Although the winter window of the NCAA transfer portal closed down on Jan. 2, the retirement of head coach Nick Saban triggered an exemption that allows Alabama players 30 days to enter their names into the national database and move schools.
Downs was named SEC Freshman of the Year after emerging as one of the best defensive backs in the league as the Crimson Tide made the College Football Playoff.
A former five-star prospect and the No. 1 ranked safety in the 2023 recruiting class, Downs recorded 107 tackles and intercepted two passes while earning second-team All-SEC honors this season with Alabama.
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.
(ESPN)
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