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McFeely blog: Bison minimally affected by transfer portal so far

Two players, both backups, have left NDSU program since national championship game

Bartholomew Ogbu practices at NDSU
Bartholomew Ogbu.
Forum file photo

FARGO — The week following North Dakota State's ninth Football Championship Subdivision national title has been quiet on the transfer portal front for the Bison.

Only two players on the roster for the Bison's 38-10 victory last Saturday over Montana State in Frisco, Texas, have entered the NCAA transfer portal as of Friday afternoon.

Defensive end Bartholomew Ogbu and receiver Adrian Adams are in the portal. Both were reserves.

Players enter the portal with the intent of transferring to another school. The NCAA allows athletes to transfer one time during their eligible years without penalty. In the past, athletes would often have to sit out a year before being eligible at another program.

Ogbu of Bismarck, N.D., entered the portal as a graduate transfer. He announced his intentions on Twitter, saying he has two years of eligibility remaining.

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Ogbu is a 6-foot-3, 240-pounder who came to NDSU from Shiloh Christian High School in 2018. He didn't play in 2018 and played the first four games in 2019 as a backup before being injured and missing the rest of the season. Ogbu played two games in the 2020-2021 spring FCS season and played seven games in the fall.

Ogbu recorded 1.5 sacks in the fall, including a solo sack against Indiana State.

He played 13 games total in his NDSU career.

Adams is a sophomore from Robbinsdale Cooper High School in the suburban Twin Cities. He redshirted in 2019, did not play in the spring season and played in one game this fall. Adams did not have a reception in his Bison career.

Ogbu and Adams join reserve offensive lineman Seth Anderson as NDSU players on the fall roster who entered the portal. Anderson, a freshman from Moorhead, left the team late in the season and entered the portal in November. He signed with North Dakota in December's early signing period.

About 75 players from the Missouri Valley Football Conference have entered the portal so far. There was a rush when the regular season ended — about 60 players put their names in the portal then — so athletes could commit to programs during the December signing period and enroll in their new schools by second semester in order to be eligible for spring practice.

Attrition on college football rosters has always been common, but the media and public often wouldn't know about players leaving until spring practice. Now the transfer portal allows a peek at player movement earlier.

It's possible NDSU might add some transfers like it did a year ago. So far, tight end Jacob Streit from NCAA Division II Northern State is only known transfer added by the Bison.

Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while he was a student studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He's been with The Forum full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk-show.
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