The college football transfer portal is as overstuffed as a Manhattan subway at rush hour. More than 2,000 players entered the portal during the first transfer period that ran from December 9-28, and they weren’t done.
Players who participate in postseason games have extra time to enter the portal. For example, if a player's bowl game is on January 1, they have until January 6 to enter the portal.
Players who experience a head coaching change also have a 30-day window to enter the portal.
And if that’s not enough, the portal reopens for business from April 16-25.
NBC Sports reported the total number of players among FBS transfers increased from 1,946 in 2021-22 to 2,303 in 2022-23, and then up to 2,707 last year.
Editorial note: I pity the people whose job requires they keep up with this.
Clearly, this is chaos for both players and coaches and there needs to be more order to the process. Penn State had to play two playoff games without back quarterback Beau Pribula after he entered the portal in December. Marshall had to opt out of its bowl game against AAC champion Army after its coach left for Southern Miss and 36 players entered the portal.
Of course, we also remember last season when undefeated FSU was forced to basically field a jayvee team after a combination of 29 scholarship players entered the portal or opted out. The Seminoles lost the Orange Bowl to Georgia 63-3. It was a farce.
At the American Football Coaches Association convention in Charlotte, FBS coaches voted unanimously to shorten the portal to a single 10-day period from January 2 through the 12th next year. USF coach Alex Golesh attended the convention.
It would be nice if that was the final word, but, of course, it isn’t.
ESPN reported that the recommendation now moves to the NCAA oversight committee, which has the final say. Approval is iffy.
Reducing the portal period wouldn’t address players opting out of bowl games, but there’s not much anyone can do about that. Players like San Jose State wide receiver Nick Nash chose not to play in the Hawai'i Bowl against USF rather than risk injury before the NFL draft. He is expected to be a high-round pick.
USF had 16 players enter the portal and received commitments from nine transfers from other schools. Bulls247.com reported that four outbound players, including quarterback Izzy Carter, remain unsigned.
I’m all for giving players freedom after the way they were treated for decades by the NCAA, whose leaders got to live in mighty fine houses on the work of essentially unpaid labor.
If a player can profit on his/her name, image, and likeness, so be it. If it’s working out for that player at one school, he/she ought to be able to move.
I mean, after all, the story of the transfers at Marshall got the headlines, but the Thundering Herd’s coach had also essentially entered the portal: destination, Hattiesburg, Miss. Former USF wide receivers coach L'Damian Washington left for Kentucky before the Bulls’ bowl game.
It happens.
That said, there needs to be a shorter window for the portal.
The coaches got this one right.