Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz decides on entering college football transfer portal
Graham Mertz has decided to move on from Wisconsin as the former Badgers quarterback announced he intends to enter the college football transfer portal.
Mertz started 32 games for Wisconsin over the last three football seasons, passing for 5,405 total yards, scoring 38 touchdowns in the air, and throwing 26 interceptions in a four-year career.
Mertz went 19-13 as the starting quarterback for Wisconsin, including a 9-4 mark in the 2021 season followed by a 6-6 campaign this past year.
Wisconsin fired head coach Paul Chryst in October and announced the hiring of Luke Fickell as his replacement on Nov. 27.
Mertz was 9th in the Big Ten in total quarterback rating, but he ranked in the top 25 nationally with a shade under 10 air yards per pass attempt.
Updates: College football transfer portal tracker: Top player on the move in 2023
College football transfer portal
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.
More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | All Teams
Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Facebook