One will be headed to his fourth school in four years while the other two are hitting the transfer portal for the first time in their college careers.
Holy Cross alum Jacob Meyer, Lloyd Memorial alum EJ Walker and Newport alum DeShaun Jackson have all announced their intentions to hit the transfer portal and potentially play for a new college basketball program next season.
Meyer has already made his presence felt in college, scoring his 1,000th career point this past season for the University of Alabama-Birmingham. After starting his career at Coastal Carolina for one season, Meyer transferred to DePaul for a year before landing at UAB. Next year will mark his fourth school in four years. He has 1,127 points in the three seasons and is coming off a year at UAB where he averaged 12.4 points per game on 45% shooting from the field. He holds the 9th Region scoring record with 3,233 points.
Walker was initially going to take a redshirt season at South Carolina, but impressed and eventually worked his way into the starting lineup for the Gamecocks. He appeared in 22 games in his freshman season, receiving valuable playing time in one of the nation’s premier conferences in the SEC. He averaged 16 minutes of playing time, scoring 2.9 points per game with 2.7 rebounds a contest. Walker is Lloyd Memorial’s all-time scoring leader.
Jackson has played in 58 games in two seasons for Mercyhurst, his production level nearly doubling from his freshman to sophomore year. He went from 3.3 to 6.0 points per game, 12.7 to 22.4 minutes per game, 1.5 to 3.0 assists per game and 1.4 to 3.0 rebounds per game. He helped guide Newport to the 9th Region championship in 2024 and was named the All “A” state tournament MVP that season in the Wildcats first ever All “A” title.
While the official transfer portal doesn’t open until Tuesday, many across the nation have already announced their intentions to enter the portal. As of March 31, according to Jeff Goodman of Field of 68, over 800 players had already announced they were entering the portal. The total number last year was 2,300.
The new state of college basketball? Not a single player in Michigan’s starting five, one of two competing for the national championship tonight, started their college career at Michigan.