When Does the NCAA Transfer Portal Open? The Key Dates to Know This Offseason for LSU

Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers enter a pivotal offseason with the program looking to rebound in 2025 following a challenging season this fall.

Kelly and Co. will reconstruct the roster via the NCAA Transfer Portal, but it will certainly be a difficult feat to accomplish.

It's a new era of recruiting with the heavy-hitters on the NIL front distributing monstrous NIL packages to lure in both high school recruits and transfers.

“That’s the bar. It’s Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, I could keep naming the teams. Now, it’s no longer about just your brand,” Kelly said. “Your brand has to be backed up with the ability to supplement that with dollars because that’s what we’re in. If you want to get in the portal and close some of these recruitments, you have to have active participation from a donor base and it can’t just be one or two guys. It has to be from all of those that want to see their schools do well. They have to be involved. If LSU wants to be at the top of the food chain, then we have to be involved as well. That’s the reality of where we are today. Whether we like it or not, it’s where we are.”

It's the new normality and Kelly understands that yes, relationships matter, but the financial backing must be suffice to get across the finish line.

Now, Kelly and the staff must utilize donors to help give the program an opportunity to secure the "big fish" both on the recruiting trail and through the portal.

“Early on it was educating the donors about what the landscape was in college football and making them understand what a collective was and what recruiting is,” Kelly said. “We’re going to recruit and put in the time for players that want to graduate and play for championships, but we also have to be able to provide them with the NIL resources in our collective so they actually come here, because other schools are going to offer them too.

"If you want to be in the big poker game, this is what the ante is. That was educational for our group and all across the country. We have donors that still don’t want to give to that and I get it, but we are still in the big poker game. We still need support so we can continue to build our roster.”

The NCAA Transfer Portal will officially open for business on Monday, Dec. 9 where the college version of free agency is set to begin.

The Key LSU Offseason Dates to Know:

"The portal will open at the end of the regular season, the day after the field and bowl games are announced. According to the NCAA, the portal will open for business Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, and close on Dec. 28.

"The spring window in April remains. The portal will only be 10 days, lasting from April 16, 2025, and shutting down on April 25, 2025. The transfer portal will open for 30 days whenever a head coach leaves their program, allowing athletes to leave and decide on their future, according to NCAA guidelines." - According to On3 Sports

Now, with less than 24 hours until the Transfer Portal is open, it's set to be a hectic offseason with Kelly utilizing an "aggressive" approach in the coming months.

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