Case Study: Does the Portal Pay Off?
Transfers have become a very big part of how programs help themselves either remain or become successful. Whether it is a grad transfer or a freshman transferring, many of them can have a tremendous impact on both the team they left as well as the team they are joining. Transfers are great for a team looking to fill a position with someone who has some college experience versus maybe throwing in a potential true freshman.
Georgia football has been a prime example this year of how valuable a transfer can be after they recruited JT Daniels, the former USC quarterback to sign with Georgia. He has been a lightning rod for this offense the past two games.
And for the most part, quarterback transfers are the shining examples of the portal. Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow and JT Daniels. They've all panned out, but what about the non-quarterbacks?
WR, Makiya Tongue
With the addition of the transfer portal, athletes who decide to transfer get treated like an NFL free agent. Players can enter their name into the portal whenever they want, see which teams contact them, and can then sign with another college. However, that also means that a player can choose to enter their name into the portal, but not get any scholarship offers or end up at another school. The question is, how many players enter their name into the portal and never find a new home on the D1 level?
It's a lot more than you think. A good amount of players who enter the portal often end up going from a D1 school to D2 or JUCO school and there are also players who go from a smaller school to a major D1 program.
After doing some thorough research, there were a good number of players who entered their name into the transfer portal in 2019 and did not end up at another college. These players weren’t just guys who were at the bottom of the totem pole coming out of high school either.
In 2019, there were over 300 players who entered their names into the transfer portal from D1 football programs.
From just the power five schools there are still, to this day, 63 players who are not committed to a current football team. Nine of those are from the Big 12, 14 from the Big 10, 22 from the PAC-12, 13 from the SEC and five from the ACC.
There was also a surprising trend amongst these players who have yet to commit to another team. Of the 63 players, 40 were ranked as 3-star athletes coming out of high school. There were also four players who were ranked as 4-stars who entered their name into the portal in 2019 and have yet to commit to another team.
DB, Divaad Wilson
For what it’s worth, all of Georgia’s players who entered the portal in 2019 ended up committing to another college program.
As shown, although the transfer portal looks and seems really nice for a player who is looking for a change in scenery, it also could mean the end of a player’s college football career at the top level.
Even the SEC has 13 players from 2019 who remain uncommitted and they’re known for having some of the best talent in the nation from top to bottom year in and year out.
It's unknown how many players outside of the power-five schools have gone from playing football on scholarship at a D1 school to no scholarship at all.
It will be interesting to track the 2020 transfer class, which JT Daniels was a part of, considering there are still 163 players from power-five schools who have yet to find another home. The transfer portal can be a great opportunity for players to finally earn playing time or get closer to home, but it can also be detrimental to a career.
