College Football Playoff team loses running back to transfer portal

A running back with proven production is set to enter the college football transfer portal with just one year of NCAA eligibility remaining in his career.

James Madison running back Ayo Adeyi is preparing to enter the transfer portal in search of what will be a third school to play for in 2026, according to ESPN.

What he's done on the field

Adeyi was limited to just 120 rushing yards on 24 carries for the Dukes as they made their first College Football Playoff appearance this past season, but the tailback has a history of solid output when he was initially at North Texas.

In total, Adeyi has 2,480 career rushing yards and 17 touchdowns while averaging 6.5 yards per carry over the last five collegiate seasons, mostly with the Mean Green.

He ran for 6 touchdowns on 496 yards in his initial season there before improving his per yard average to 7.2 yards the following season with 4 touchdowns and 807 total yards.

Adeyi had his best season to date in 2023, when he carried 143 times for 1,017 yards and scored 6 touchdowns while averaging 7.1 yards per attempt.

How the college football transfer portal works

College football’s transfer portal officially opens on Jan. 2, but that hasn’t stopped a flurry of players from entering their names for consideration at a new school right now.

The new 15-day transfer portal window from Jan. 2-16 and the elimination of the spring transfer period has condensed the timeline for players and programs to make their moves.

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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