Florida Gators OL Mike Williams entering transfer portal

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators true freshman offensive lineman Mike Williams announced Monday that he’s entering the transfer portal. He was a member of UF’s 2024 recruiting class and made no appearances this season, earning a redshirt.

Williams released a statement about his decision on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“To Coach Nap, Coach Sale and the University of Florida staff, thank you for giving me the opportunity to fulfill my dreams of playing football and for all you have done for me over the past year. To Gator Nation, thank you for your unwavering support and for making me feel so welcomed.

“This place and you all will forever hold a special place in my heart. To my teammates, the brotherhood we’ve built is unmatched, and I’ve found lifelong friends here. With that being said, I am entering the transfer portal with four years of eligibility remaining.”

Williams is the fourth Florida player reportedly set to transfer since the regular season ended, along with wide receiver Andy Jean and EDGE rushers Justus Boone and Quincy Ivory.

Transfer portal background information

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 as 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.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle.

The window for FBS players to enter the portal opens Dec. 9 and closes on Dec. 28.

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