Michigan's Alex Orji plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

Michigan is about to lose quarterback Alex Orji, as he plans to enter the college football transfer portal for the 2025 season.

Michigan Wolverines quarterback Alex Orji will enter the NCAA football transfer portal ahead of the 2025 season. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Michigan Wolverines quarterback Alex Orji plans to enter the college football transfer portal ahead of the 2025 season, according to multiple reports.

On3 Sports first reported news of Orji’s intention to transfer.

The quarterback appeared in 20 games for the Wolverines and started three contests for the program, appearing in 10 games this past season.

Orji began the season as the backup to Davis Warren and was mostly featured on designed run plays, but took over as the starter in Week 4 against USC, leading the team to consecutive victories.

Michigan moved to Jack Tuttle at quarterback after the Orji-led offense struggled in the Washington game, and he spent the rest of the season as the backup.

Orji ran for 260 yards and a touchdown while passing for 148 yards with three additional touchdowns and an interception as Michigan struggled to throw the ball in 2024.

The defending national champions ranked 130th among 134 FBS teams in passing output, averaging just under 134 yards per game.

And the team was just 112th nationally in scoring as a result, posting 22.3 points per game.

The signal caller originally signed with Michigan as a consensus four-star recruit and a top 400 player nationally, according to an average of the four recruiting services.

More ... College football transfer portal tracker for 2025

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How the college football transfer portal works

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.

A player can enter their name into the transfer portal through their school's compliance office.

Once a player gives written notification of their intent to transfer, the office puts the player's name into the database, and they officially become a transfer.

The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player's request and NCAA rules forbid anyone from refusing that request.

The database includes the player's name, contact information, info on whether the player was on scholarship, and if he is a graduate student.

Once a player's name appears in the transfer portal database, other schools are free to contact the player, who can change his mind at any point in the process and withdraw from the transfer portal.

Notably, once a player enters the portal, his school no longer has to honor the athletic scholarship it gave him.

And if that player decides to leave the portal and return to his original school, the school doesn't have to give him another scholarship.

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