Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Justin Abson will transfer to Georgia

Appalachian State transfer Justin Abson has committed to Georgia and will play for Mark Fox.

Appalachian State transfer Justin Abson has committed to Georgia, 247Sports has learned.

A 6-foot-9, 235-pound big man out of West Palm Beach (Fla.) Abson was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year this past season after averaging 7.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game on 61.9 percent shooting from the field.

Additionally, he ranked third nationally in blocks per game and was the only NCAA Division I player to record at least six blocks five different times during the regular season.

Abson chose Georgia after visiting campus earlier this month. In addition to the Bulldogs, Abson strongly considered Michigan and Xavier as options during his time in the portal

Abson is the second portal addition for Mike White this offseason. He joins DeShayne Montgomery as the transfers on Georgia’s roster for next season.

Once he arrives in Athens, Abson will have two years of eligibility remaining.

The transfer portal opened on March 18th and will remain open until Wednesday, May 1st.

Anytime during that window, a player can submit paperwork to their current school to request a transfer and within 48-hours of receiving the paperwork, a player must be submitted into the NCAA Portal database.

Before the window opens on March 18th and after the window closes on May 1st, players who have earned enough credits to graduate are able to enter the portal at any time, listed as a “Grad Transfer”.

Simultaneously, with any coaching movement – whether a head coach is fired or gets another job – players of that team are also given a 30-day window in which they can enter the portal which is not bound to the March 18th-May 1st window.

When a player has officially entered the portal, other schools are permitted to contact the player and begin the recruiting process.

There is also a new rule this off-season that will have major ramifications on the transfer market.

In recent years, players were given a one-time transfer waiver and if transferring for a second time, a waiver had to be granted to be immediately eligible by the NCAA.

For the transfers this spring, transfers are expected to be immediately eligible for the 2024-25 season according to a recent memo by the NCAA.