LOOK: Former UCLA defensive lineman Odua Isibor announces commitment to California
Former UCLA Bruins defensive lineman Odua Isibor has found a new home. After spending five years in the UCLA program, Isibor decided to enter the transfer portal on April 21. Now, Isibor just announced his transfer commitment to one of UCLA’s Pac-12 rivals, as he is going to play out his sixth season of eligibility with the California Golden Bears.
Isibor has totaled 57 tackles with nine tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery in his five-year collegiate career so far. This past season, he had 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble.
When he first arrived at UCLA, Isibor was a three-star recruit and a top-500 player in the 2017 class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. During his original recruitment, Isibor, an Arizona native, held offers from USC, Texas A&M, Oregon, Colorado, and others, in addition to UCLA.
Prior to committing to Cal, Isibor also visited the Auburn Tigers late in April.
Last season, Cal had the fourth-best defense in the Pac-12 in terms of yards allowed per game (366.7). The Golden Bears also allowed 22.3 points per game (third-best in Pac-12), 137.2 rushing yards (fifth-best) and 229.5 passing yards (seventh-best).
Transfer portal background information for Isibor
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. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. 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. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.