Report: Jaylen Varner enters transfer portal 112 days after committing to Gophers

It was Jan. 8 when Jaylen Varner committed to the Minnesota Gophers football team. Now, just 112 days later, Varner is back in the NCAA transfer portal in search of a new college football home, according to Ryan James of 247Sports. 

Varner lit up opponents with 90 catches for 1,008 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2023 at Division II Emporia State. 

The 6-foot-1 receiver was expected to be a key piece of Minnesota's passing attack in 2024, joining the likes of returning leading receiver Daniel Jackson, Penn State transfer Cristian Driver, Le'Meke Brockington, Kristen Hoskins, Elijah Spencer and the most recent portal commit, Tyler Williams. 

Williams, a former four-star recruit who was a redshirt freshman for the powerhouse Georgia Bulldogs in 2023, committed last week. It's unclear if Williams' arrival had anything to do with Varner's reported decision to go elsewhere. 

Varner's decision to leave Minnesota without ever playing a game is nothing new in the portal era. In fact, he's not the only player to commit to Minnesota and then have a change of mind since the end of the 2023 season. 

Running back Trent Howland was Indiana's leading rusher in 2023 before entering the portal and committing to Minnesota. He then withdrew his Gophers commitment and went back to Indiana only re-enter the portal on April. He tweeted Monday that he's committed to Oklahoma State. 

The spring transfer portal window closes on May 1, which simply means players can no longer enter the portal but players who are in the portal before the deadline can take as much time as they want to find a new school.