How the NCAA's New Portal Rules Affect the Auburn Tigers

The NCAA is enacting a pair of new rules for the NCAA Transfer Portal. Here's how those new rules affect the Auburn Tigers.

The new portal rules may also have a direct impact on the Auburn Tigers should they move on from head coach Hugh Freeze. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

AUBURN,Ala.- Earlier this week, the NCAA Division I Administrative Committee approved a pair of changes to the transfer portal, moving from two transfer portal windows to a one and changing rules for transferring after a coaching change. 

Auburn Tigers on SI goes into detail on what that could mean for the Auburn Tigers. 

Goodbye, Spring Window

The committee voted to entirely scrap the spring portal window, allowing only a single transfer window for football athletes on a 15-day portal window from Jan. 2-16. 

Teams that are participating in the 12-team College Football Playoff, which runs during that 15-day window, will be granted an additional five days beginning the day after their final game. 

A large part to this change is the fact that most portal action is done during the winter window, leaving the spring window useless.

Still, Auburn has found a way in the past to use the spring window effectively. The Tigers signed four players during the last spring transfer cycle. The list includes defensive lineman James Ash, linebacker Caleb Wheatland, cornerback and kick return specialist Rayshawn Pleasant and defensive lineman Jay Hardy. 

So far this season, Pleasant has had the biggest impact on the team, starting at cornerback when Jay Crawford was out with an injury. He has also had an impact on special teams, returning a kick 98 yards to the endzone in Auburn's season-opener against Baylor. 

RAYSHAWN PLEASANT 98 YARDS THROUGH THE HEART OF TEXAS pic.twitter.com/8ZaprUcXxm

— Barstool SEC (@SECBarstool) August 30, 2025

Coaching Changes

In addition to the elimination of the spring transfer window, there is a significant change to when players can transfer after a head coach is fired. With the old rules, players whose head coach is either fired or departing for a new job automatically get a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal the day after the coach departs. 

With the new rules, players will now have to wait until after a new coach is hired or announced and will have only 15 days to enter the transfer portal, which begins five days after the announcement. 

It's important to note that players on the four schools that have already fired their coach - UCLA, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State and Arkansas - are grandfathered in and can still enter the portal within the original 30-day window.

While Auburn has not made a coaching change, Freeze's 14-16 record midway through his third season, which includes back-to-back losses to open SEC play, puts the hot seat discussions back on the table.

The pressure also grows considering Freeze is the first coach at Auburn in 50 years to receive a third season after back-to-back losing seasons.

If Auburn were to lose this Saturday to the Georgia Bulldogs and the following week to the Missouri Tigers, Auburn fans could know exactly how the new rules will apply to them.