College Football Spring Transfer Window Explained
This Saturday, April 15, college football's spring transfer window opens. Last year, the NCAA put some restrictions to try and corral the wild West that is the transfer portal, chiefly by installing windows for players to enter. The first 45-day window opened on Dec. 5, 2022, and closed on Jan. 18.
Over 1,200 scholarship football players hit the portal, 583 of which signed with new homes, per The Athletic. 229 of those players remained unsigned, and several hundred withdrew from the portal.
With the last couple months being quiet in terms of the portal (note: grad transfers have no calendar restrictions), Saturday poses to be a busy news day.
Why Transfer Now?
The overwhelming assumption about why players transfer comes down to two things: playing time and NIL. But that's not always the case.
While certainly many players transfer due to their position on the depth chart or in search of greener pastures (both metaphorically and in the form of green paper), things at several programs changed drastically since Jan. 18.
After all, coaches don't have transfer windows. Several coordinators moved spots with many leaving for NFL opportunities. It's expected that a large number of players whose coordinators left between Jan. 18 and April 15 will hit the portal.
Specifically with new staffs – Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin – changes in culture force players hands to change. We saw earlier this year that Deion Sanders essentially fired the entire Buffs' roster. Once the coaching staff gets in, oftentimes players don't fit culturally, especially ones recruited by the old staff.
And, of course, there's spring practice. Major programs like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Ole Miss have complex quarterback battles featuring multiple five-star players or college football veterans. Should one of those high-ceiling players lose out, they're likely to find a new home.
The bottom line is – rarely are transfers players who found better NIL opportunities. Rarely are they temper tantrums thrown by players believing they deserve more playing time. Mostly, it's changes around them that force players to find new homes.
The Transfer Portal Structure
While all the new movement over the past three offseasons feels like the transfer portal is an ungoverned free-for-all, NCAA compliance has put plenty of restrictions in place. Most impactful has to be the new window structure.
Under the current NCAA bylaws, football athletes have two windows to change teams:
- A 45-day period immediately following the end of the regular season
- A two-week window immediately following spring camp
Originally, the dates were set for May 1-15, but October meetings between the athletic departments moved this to right after spring games. Logistically, it makes sense.
Players can transfer twice between four-year universities without penalty. This was changed from once in the past. However, should a player want to transfer to their third four-year university as an undergrad student, they must sit out a season as a penalty.
Grad transfers do not have to sit a year out for their third school, as seen recently by Rice transfer QB JT Daniels. Grad transfers also do not adhere to the same undergrad transfer windows.
Since 2018, coaches are no longer allowed to block their players from transferring.
Who Might Enter The Portal This Time Around?
While I won't speculate on any specific names, chiefly moves will come from players battling for starting spots in spring camp and from those whose coaching staff changed since Jan. 18.
Utah State saw an opening at offensive coordinator, and Buffalo lost their defensive coordinator late this winter. Plenty of position coaches left for the NFL or other opportunities – an ongoing process that will continue into summer camp.
The best way to keep up with the new transfers is to follow beat members of The Athletic on Twitter. The NCAA Transfer Portal is not a public entity.
Follow along with KillerFrogs' offseason coverage of college football. In the next few weeks, we'll discuss the most important names to hit the transfer portal the second time around.
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