Why AD Mitchell's Departure Should Concern College Football Fans
Last night as Stetson Bennett was sending fiery tweets on his Twitter, news began swirling around the Georgia program that star receiver AD Mitchell would be entering the transfer portal. Mitchell had played a pivotal role in both of UGA's title runs, catching a touchdown in every playoff game (4) that he appeared in, and was poised to be the "WR1" in a stacked Bulldog room for the 2023 season.
Unfortunately for the Georgia program, that rumor became reality earlier Wednesday afternoon when the Texas native did officially enter his name in the portal. The Texas Longhorns immediately became favorites to nab the former 4-star wideout given that Texas is his home state and where his family currently lives.
But speculations about Texas making contact with the former Bulldog date back much further than just this past week. In fact, numerous insider reports stated that the Longhorns had reached out to Mitchell as early as December.
As NCAA rules state, teams are not allowed to reach out or make contact with any player that has not yet entered their name in the transfer portal. Meaning that Texas' alleged contact with Mitchell is a direct violation of NCAA rules.
An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution's athletics interests shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining the written permission of the first institution's athletics director (or an athletics administrator designated by the athletics director) to do so, regardless of who makes the initial contact. If permission is not granted, the second institution shall not encourage the transfer and the institution shall not provide athletically related financial assistance to the student-athlete until the student-athlete has attended the second institution for one academic year. If permission is granted to contact the student-athlete, all applicable NCAA recruiting rules apply. If an institution receives a written request from a student-athlete to permit another institution to contact the student-athlete about transferring, the institution shall grant or deny the request within seven business days (see Bylaw 13.02.1) of receipt of the request. If the institution fails to respond to the student-athlete's written request within seven business days, permission shall be granted by default and the institution shall provide written permission to the student-athlete.
-Taken from the NCAA Rule Book
While NCAA rules and regulations have always been bent, the phrase "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying" almost certainly always applies to college athletics. The addition of the transfer portal and NIL over the past few years has made instances such as this one much more common and easy to get away with given that the league has chosen idle for the most part since NIL policies were implemented back in 2021.
So why is this such an issue? After all, Georgia is 29-1 in the last 2 seasons with a pair of National Titles to boot. Surely their fans can't be that upset about losing one receiver that didn't even play the majority of the season, right?
While Georgia's emotions over losing Mitchell, especially after the addition of Rara Thomas and Dominic Lovett in the offseason may seem trivial to outsiders. The bigger picture shows that the new world of College Football is much like "The Wild-Wild-West."
Teams can (and will) try to poach players and coaches right from underneath another program since they know that there is no authoritative figure (like the NCAA) to regulate it. So if an 8-5 team can tamper with the Back-to-back National Champions and snag their No.1 wide receiver. What's stopping any other school from having its key player swept out from underneath them?
The answer... Absolutely nothing.
By the way, Georgia isn't the only victim of apparent player nabbing. Pittsburgh's head coach Pat Narduzzi, this time last year, was calling Lincoln Riley directly to complain about him poaching Biletnikoff award winner Jordan Addison off his roster to head to USC for his final season.
The question becomes, if not only no one is driving the speed limit, but the cops have stopped showing up to work, why not drive as fast as you can? If no one is going to keep you from tampering, or trying to convince players to leave their current program, even if they've won two national titles at said program, then by all means, tamper away.
Other Georgia News:
- Way Too Early Look at Georgia's 2023 Receiving Corps
- Final: Georgia Blasts TCU: Claims Back-to-Back Titles
- BREAKING: Stetson Bennett Sets New Single Season Passing Yards Record
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