Within the span of 56 days, Gracie Merkle transferred from Penn State to Maryland and again to Penn State.
Sure, actually.
Effectively, kind of.
Merkle, a 6-foot-6 redshirt junior middle, entered the switch portal on March 25 with a do-not-contact tag. Regardless of taking part in for the worst workforce within the Massive Ten — the Nittany Lions went 1-17 in convention play final season — Merkle was a extremely sought-after switch after averaging 15.5 factors and eight.6 rebounds per recreation. She was fourth-nationally in discipline aim share, making 67 % of her pictures together with her gentle contact across the rim.
On April 5, she introduced on her Instagram that she was committing to Maryland, full with a graphic that includes her in a Terrapins’ jersey with the caption “GO TERPS.” Merkle turned a key constructing block of one of many strongest switch portal courses assembled this offseason, as Terps coach Brenda Frese additionally landed commitments from ACC Match MVP Oluchi Okananwa from Duke and Indiana’s Yarden Garzon, an All-Massive Ten choice and 3-and-D specialist.
Merkle even recorded a video for the Terps’ social channels, saying how “excited” she was to hitch the workforce. She added in an announcement issued by Maryland on April 8 that stated: “I selected Maryland due to the profitable tradition. I developed a perception within the teaching workers and a relationship with the gamers as quickly as I stepped on campus. The event I’m in search of is confirmed with Coach Frese.”
Because it seems, the assertion, the information launch, the video, the graphic, the picture shoot, the social media posts — it was all a waste of time.
As a result of Merkle isn’t going to play basketball on the College of Maryland.
She backpedaled on Monday night time and introduced that, certainly, she’s staying at Penn State.
“Plot twist! After a lot thought, prayer and communication with my household, I’ve been launched from UMD per my request,” Merkle wrote on Instagram. “I’m very grateful for the chance however I’ve determined to return to Penn State College!!!! As at all times, I respect all of the love and assist.”
So, how did this occur? How did a participant switch to a brand new college after which again out of it a month later?
SB Nation spoke to a couple coaches, brokers and different sources round girls’s school basketball to raised perceive the system and the circumstances.
So, who’s Gracie Merkle?
She’s a fairly good collegiate middle from Mount Washington, Kentucky. She started her school profession on the mid-major stage at Bellarmine the place she averaged 14.6 factors and 10.6 rebounds as a real freshman and ranked second nationally in taking pictures share with a 70.1 % mark. She was additionally sixteenth nationally in rebounds per recreation and received the ASUN Rookie of the 12 months award.
After sitting out her sophomore season on account of an damage, Merkle transferred to Penn State the place she continued to place up comparable numbers in opposition to stiff competitors within the Massive Ten. Whereas the Nittany Lions struggled, going 10-19, Merkle had a strong season and was an All-Massive Ten honorable point out choice.
There weren’t many true submit gamers within the portal this 12 months, so Merkle was coveted as somebody who may rating within the paint, rebound and defend the rim at a excessive stage.
In early April she signed with Maryland.
What did Merkle signal?
Merkle signed one thing generally known as a monetary settlement, a supply confirmed, which is what all transfers are requested to signal after they go to a brand new college.
The factor is, these monetary agreements are a bit completely different from what highschool recruits used to signal after they dedicated to high schools — a Nationwide Letter of Intent. NLIs don’t exist anymore although after the NCAA eradicated them in October, ending this system that started in 1964.
An NLI was a proper and binding settlement between a participant and this system they have been selecting to attend. They have been arduous to get out of.
The brand new monetary agreements are something however that. The loopholes are straightforward to take advantage of.
One Energy 4 assistant coach put it this fashion: “You may get out of a monetary settlement anytime now so long as you haven’t stepped on campus and began getting assist… These are mainly verbal commitments.”
The NLI was eradicated because the NCAA anticipates extra adjustments from the Home settlement, which can pave the way in which for faculties to share income instantly with gamers.
One agent referred to the monetary agreements as “simply MOUs” or memorandums of understanding, one other type of a non-binding settlement.
“Monetary assist settlement mainly means nothing till you bodily attend a category,” one other Energy 4 assistant coach stated.
A supply acquainted with Merkle’s scenario confirmed to SB Nation that, other than her go to throughout her recruitment, she by no means stepped on campus and by no means enrolled in courses in School Park.
However isn’t the switch portal closed? How did Merkle return to Penn State?
Certainly, the switch portal is closed. However Merkle by no means needed to reenter the portal as a result of she by no means exited it. She didn’t begin figuring out with Maryland, she didn’t attend courses there and didn’t obtain monetary assist.
And as soon as a participant enters the switch portal, they’re technically in it for the season. When a participant indicators a monetary settlement with a brand new college, the portal will present that, however the participant will nonetheless exist within the portal.
One longtime coach summed it up this fashion: “Since she went in for the 2024-25 season, even when she signed and it signified as a lot within the portal, she’s nonetheless in there… If I open up the portal proper now and search for (MiLaysia) Fulwiley, I’ll see that she’s signed to LSU, however she’s nonetheless listed. In order that does nonetheless rely as being in there.”
This really already occurred in girls’s school basketball throughout this portal cycle. Auburn’s Kaitlyn Duhon, a strong defender who has averaged 4.9 factors per recreation for her profession, signed with Texas A&M on April 1. Weeks later, she introduced she was going again to Auburn.
Final 12 months, soccer participant Kadyn Proctor transferred from Alabama to Iowa, however lower than two months later returned to Alabama earlier than ever collaborating in a observe with the Hawkeyes.
“It’s so bizarre the way it all works,” one other coach informed SB Nation.
What does this imply for Maryland and Penn State?
Merkle seemingly would’ve been the Terps’ beginning middle subsequent season, particularly following the departure of Allie Kubek — a 6-foot-2 ahead who entered the portal and transferred to Florida State after the arrivals of Merkle, Garzon and Okananwa have been introduced.
The Terps nonetheless have a strong roster able to making a deep March Insanity run, however Garzon is now their tallest listed participant at 6-foot-3, and she or he’s at her greatest when she will be able to play alongside the wings as an alternative of spending nearly all of her time down within the paint. Brenda Frese has performed small-ball lineups over the previous few years, however having a real formidable submit like Merkle would’ve been a luxurious.
Penn State added dynamic Rutgers guard Kiyomi McMiller via the portal. A former Jordan Model All-American, she averaged 18.7 factors as a real freshman for the Scarlet Knights. Due to numerous benchings, suspensions and different circumstances, McMiller solely performed in 21 of 33 video games for Rutgers.
The Massive Ten has but to set its girls’s basketball schedule for the 2025-26 season, however the assembly between Maryland and Penn State shall be one to circle on the calendar.
