Ever since its introduction, the transfer portal has been as polarizing a tentacle of the modern college football landscape as any. It has its critics, and for good reason. Players jumping ship to seek greener pastures has become a perpetual threat to programs. Leaving conventional values and loyalties at the door in order to maximize both their potential and their pockets. Conversely, there are proponents of the portal who endorse it as well. After all, there are some positives to it. There’s nothing innately wrong with wanting to drive your career forward elsewhere. Plus, it even offers players who are stuck behind another on the depth chart the chance to go play somewhere. A clean slate of sorts. However, the latest revelation around a player’s actions epitomizes this dichotomy. The good and the bad.

Imagine wanting to leave your program via the portal for the reasons aforementioned. You’ve perhaps outgrown the humble surroundings of the Sun Belt Conference and believe it’s time to take your talents to the Power 4. Not only because of the obvious financial avenues, but also because of how it’ll forward your career in the sport. In addition, you even play one of the most important positions on the field. One that’s perpetually going to have a market out there. So you enter the portal and are automatically ranked the best player in it for that position. Things seem to be going exactly to plan. But, for some reason, you pull the plug on the entire operation. That’s exactly what’s transpired at South Alabama.

The South Alabama Jaguars thought they’d just become victims of the transfer portal about a fortnight ago. Their starting left tackle, Jordan Davis, had just entered his name after a stellar season that gained plaudits and accolades alike. So much so, there was interest from the “bigger” schools. However, Davis has just made a ton of CFB traditionalists and the South Alabama faithful very happy. 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz took to X to report news that’s equal parts shocking and uplifting. At least for those who are fans of the relatively smaller schools that have seen their best players get poached via the portal ad nauseam.

“South Alabama starting left tackle Jordan Davis, who entered the transfer portal April 21, has officially withdrawn his name from the portal, @chris_hummer and I have learned for @CBSSports/@247Sports. Had been one of the top-ranked available offensive linemen in the portal,” wrote Matt Zenitz. It’s not every day you see a player rescind their name from the portal and remain at the current team. Immediately, the proverbial screws in your head begin turning to understand just why this happened. The exact reason remains inconspicuous at this moment, but you can make a couple of fairly apt assumptions.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Jordan Davis may just have had a change of heart. He’s been at South Alabama since 2023, and it has served him well. As clichéd as it sounds, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Staying put in a place where you’d played some good football, rather than introducing variance, could be shrewd. At the same time, South Alabama and Davis could’ve come to an agreement that didn’t exist before. Newer terms around NIL, perhaps. Or maybe Jordan Davis simply wanted to embrace tradition and exercise loyalty. Serve one school, one fanbase. Whatever the case, teams and coaches on the other side of the transfer portal are definitely missing a stud.

Jordan Davis’ collegiate career hasn’t been straightforward, but it’s been trending skyward

Fairburn, Georgia native Jordan Davis was a 3-star prospect in the class of ’21 coming out of high school. He initially enrolled at South Carolina but never managed to get any playing time with them. After two years in the SEC, Davis hit the transfer portal for the first time. Except, he actually went through with it that time around.

Davis landed with South Alabama and has gone from strength to strength since. He has played 24 of the possible 26 games, starting 22. The 6’5, 206 lb. man mountain started all 13 games last season at left tackle, protecting his quarterback’s blindside. Jordan Davis’ efforts contributed to a 7-6 record, including a bowl game victory over Western Michigan.

Jordan Davis has one year of eligibility left. Which he’ll now spend with the Jaguars themselves. Whatever the reason for how this sensational 180-degree U-turn came about, the program sure will be relieved they’ve got his services on the line of scrimmage for one more season. This is somebody with NFL upside, and there’s never an excess of left tackles in the league. So it’ll be interesting to keep an eye out a year from now.