Opinion: How to Improve the Transfer Portal

Article photo of former Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams, a player that formerly played for Ohio State. Photo credit to Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The NCAA opened up the Transfer Portal again on April 15 and it will close at the conclusion of April 30.

It’s the new trend in college sports and specifically college football. When that Portal opens, all hell can, and often has, broken loose. Well, that’s what it looked like from the outside anyway.

Behind the scenes, there’s much more to unravel than what players were listed in the Transfer Portal. Why they go, why coaches make rosters decisions, and other issues have been interwoven together.

This article will provide some of the details of what’s wrong with the Transfer Portal, some thoughts about how it can improve from three of the primary groups that have been involved with it – the NCAA, college football coaches and the recruits – and one primary way it can be changed for the better.

The Transfer Portal Begins

Oct. 15, 2018 was when the Transfer Portal began. It was not until the NCAA allowed a one-time transfer without sitting out a year that began on July 1, 2021. That's when the Transfer Portal truly went into hyperdrive, however.

Look, I get it. Anyone reading this should, too. No player wanted to sit out. That was tough. That does not mean the NCAA should also be allowing so many waivers with second-time transfers. That’s been one of the rules that's been so confusing.

The NCAA has been weak with its guidance and lack of consistently applying the rules. The NCAA must be far more consistent moving forward.

That stated, one of the biggest issues with the Portal would often be the attitudes of those entering into it, and that’s the next topic.

I’m Going to the NFL

Are you?

Just because a college football player does not start as a freshman, that does not automatically mean it was a good idea to hit the Transfer Portal (or after Year 2, etc.). That’s been happening too often, however.

Of course players want to go to the NFL. That does not mean they should leave a program when they don't start right away.

Look, college coaches get paid to win. Football has always been a developmental sport as well. It takes time to be a successful player. Therefore, coaches play the best players after they become ready so that team has the best chance to win games and try to win a national championship.

It's not like Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Mario Cristobal, or any other coach sits a player on the bench to hurt his squad's won-loss record. That's for sure.

With so many players having entered the Portal, overall, there simply needs to be more and better guidance from those people around the players moving forward. The lack of patience and understanding, overall, has not been good enough to date.

On the other side of things, there’s been some reasons for coaches liking the Portal probably more than they should have.

The “Quick Fix” Problem

With the ability to land an experienced player from the Transfer Portal, it makes it much more likely for a college coaching staff to look for impact players that began their college careers at another school (see former Bama wide receiver Jameson Williams, pictured on the cover of this article, as a rare example of that being a tremendous success). There's also an issue to try and find that player like Williams.

College coaches sometimes push out players and/or just cut their scholarships.

This is the ugly underbelly of college football, among other sports. Then again, many people wanted the amendment to allow transfers to be immediately eligible. Welp, it happened and it’s made things more complex than it even was before.

As long as there’s immediate eligibility after a transfer, this problem of coaches getting rid of players will continue.

Also, do note that scholarships are set for one-year and not four-years (each year they must be renewed), so it's always been easy for coaches to just cut players. This is a different issue in a sense, but the Portal also added to the problem.

That leads into the next point about high school prospects.

High School Recruits Suffer

I’d like a nickel for each time a person connected to a college football program has discussed how there’s too much pressure to win now. Further, it's gotten worse and worse.

Many college boosters and administrators have been compleely unrealistic about win-loss records (one can just about pick a school). Thus, there’s less time for college coaches to develop players before they got canned.

That's where the temptation of the Transfer Portal has crept in.

The Transfer Portal has become an option to bring an experienced player that no longer has to sit out a year, and that option has been one coaches have liked. In short, high school prospects have been getting the raw end of the deal ever since that rule went into effect.

That means any high school player could be left out, but two positions have been especially hurt by the Transfer Portal.

Offensive linemen and quarterbacks will have a harder time earning offers because those have traditionally been the two positions that take the most training and time to get up to speed to play college football.

To place things into perspective, I have literally not had one college coach tell me that he’d prefer a high school offensive lineman over a college transfer. Now, to be fair, those have all been generic conversations and it’s obvious that the truly elite recruits probably hold a different answer. I grant that point.

Looking at the situation from an offensive line coach’s perspective, and comparing apples to apples, it’s also been understandable that a college coach has desired a player that’s at least gone off to college and experienced life away from home for a while, among other plausible reasons to go the Transfer Portal route.

Still, it’s the point that there have been many talented prep offensive linemen and quarterbacks – and each position at the prep level overall – that end up without a college option now.

It’s awkward and frustrating for those players and their parents, guardians, and high school coaches. Also hard to see a fix, however. Wish I knew the answer for offensive linemen and quarterbacks in particular, but I simply do not.

There could be one rule change that helps reduce transfers overall though.

One Key Rule Change so the NCAA Can Improve the Transfer Portal Issues

From a one-year window, each college football program will be allowed “x” number of transfers by the NCAA, period.

College coaches and players would both have to choose wisely.

That rule change could help college coaches rethink just taking the player from the Portal, hopefully seeing college players think twice before transferring, as well as helping high school prospects to earn more offers.

Bottom line, capping the total number of transfers changes the dynamics of the Transfer Portal. While far from perfect, that rule would help improve some of the issues. It would also essentially give college football some normalcy moving forward.

To say the least, it’s much needed.

2024 Miami Commitments

2023 Miami Football Schedule

AllHurricanes.com is your home for all things Miami Hurricanes football, recruiting, basketball and other athletics, all the time. Follow along on social media at @AllHurricanes on Twitter and All Hurricanes on Facebook for round-the-clock news and analysis.