Fix to Transfer Portal Would Help Hogs, Cool Off Ole Miss, Kiffin

Solutions can't take away options for players, but can place price to pay for schools looking to steal talent

Arkansas Razorbacks running back Braylen Russell (0) rushes in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Volunteers at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Arkansas won 19-14. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There is no doubt there needs to be reform in regard to the NCAA transfer portal.

There's not a lot in the world that everyone can agree upon, but the one issue that transcends political affiliation is how negatively the unregulated version of player movement in college football has affected the game. Fans are truly bitter with all the movement and lack of loyalty which makes it so hard to invest emotionally in players who traditionally would come to feel like family.

Seeing how much havoc it has created on the bowl season and how hard life has been made for coaches who are trying to piece together next year's team rather than fully focusing on getting a full roster ready for one final hoorah at the bowl game makes what should be a joyful holiday season borderline miserable for those associated with the program. The PR damage done to the game is immense.

There are a lot of ideas thrown around out there for how to fix it, but most ignore all the court rulings that already exist. There's not much that can be done directly to the athletes to keep them from going from one school to the next.

They have to be treated like a regular student who might be tempted to move to a new school because he or she can get a higher paying job at a nearby company. That can't be impeded.

However, while there is little that can be done to curtail the tampering that most suspect schools like Ole Miss of committing, there is a way to soften how hard these same schools attack the portal. One of the biggest issues with the Rebels specifically targeting a direct competitor by intentionally buying that opponents' top prospects to make sure an opponent is weakened is the targeted program gets nothing in return.

If Ole Miss wanted to take head coach Sam Pittman, there would be a buyout. If this were the NFL, there would be a trade for draft picks and maybe a little cash.

Unfortunately for college football programs, when rivals poach key players, there is no compensation to account for the damage done. There is nothing but incentive for Ole Miss to take from as many teams on its schedule as possible, even if the thought is those players won't necessarily become starters.

There's inside intel to be gained and that player doesn't get an extra season of development in the previous teams system, so if all that is gained is a back-up to make practice a little better, it's worth it. That's why the system needs to change, and the negative effect needs to fall upon the school stealing players rather than the players themselves.

It wouldn't take much. Make it cost $100,000 payable to the previous school to get a player from a Power Four school in the transfer portal.

Make it $75,000 for a Group of Five player and $50,000 for someone coming from an FCS program. If teams dip into the Division II ranks, then that comes with a $25,000 price tag.

That won't stop the best of the best from hopping in the portal. A player like receiver Ryan Williams or quarterback Quinn Ewers have enough appeal that teams would ship a bag of money to Alabama and Texas respectively, but it's unlikely a school would throw an extra $100,000 out the window to bring in former Razorback back-up running back Braylen Russell.

Of course, there are a lot of players who are in the portal because their coaches want to free up a roster spot or want to help the player get a chance to get on the field at a smaller school. Both the Arkansas basketball and football teams have been notorious for this over the past few years, as have plenty of other schools.

There's also the need to remove locker room cancers who are causing issues by there mere presence. Coaches don't want them around either.

Because of this, there has to be a provision for coaches to take the price tag off a player so a player can move on without the buyout keeping them from continuing to be an athlete. Also, if an athlete is placed in the portal with a buyout tag and that player doesn't get picked up by another team, he or she automatically returns to the roster effective immediately with the closure of the portal.

Pittman's staff may be without four players, most of whom hardly played this past season, but at least there would be $400,000 in the coffers to help with rebuilding. Because the buyout tag reduces competition and the number of players getting offers, the Hogs could use $200,000 toward the buyout cost and tack an extra $100,000 onto the offers for a pair of players that would mean Arkansas is theoretically getting two higher quality players than they are likely to get under the current circumstances.

Depending on how things play out, it's possible the Razorbacks could technically win out in this situation depending on whether these injured departures continue to fail to get on the field in a healthy capacity. However, under the current portal system, there is little way for the Hogs to generate a win, which makes it hard to generate wins on the field also.

Overall, it makes for a miserable holiday season for coaches and fans. The only ones having a holly jolly Christmas are the ones bailing to fill their pockets with cash while avoiding possible injury in December practices and bowl games.

HOGS FEED:

• Fland wins major SEC honor

• Reason for Razorbacks' flood of transfers to Rebels obvious

• Former Razorback scores unique touchdown for Lions

• Is Razorbacks' portal strategy enough to compete? | Locked on Razorbacks

• Hogs' freshman running back in portal again

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