UCF Coaches Talk Transfer Portal

Head Coach Gus Malzahn and Defensive Coordinator Travis Williams provide their thoughts about the Transfer Portal.

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Dec 21, 2021 6:56 PM EST

There’s been much debate about how to handle the Transfer Portal. With so many college football programs focusing on the college transfers, there are numerous high school prospects left out in the cold.

Is that fair? Can anything be done to change the situation as it currently resides?

As of Tuesday, Dec. 21, UCF has 13 high school recruits. That is a low number for after signing day. A big reason why would be the Transfer Portal and several teams, UCF included, investigating possible candidates that decide to leave the first school they attend.

What’s the strategy? The fit has to be right for the player and the new program, but what else?

To better understand the best practices one must first gain information from the experts. Here’s UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn with his thoughts about how UCF is handling the Transfer Portal, beginning with the following quote from him.

"We're looking for players that are the right fit for us," Coach Malzahn.

An additional opinion about the Transfer Portal was shared by UCF Co-Defensive Coordinator Travis Williams. He believes there’s still a lot to figure out about the portal, and that it’s still early to judge. Here's the first statement Coach Williams made about the Transfer Portal followed by the entire clip of what he said.

"The Transfer Portal, when you recruiting high school kids and you don't get them, a lot of the time if you really built that relationship, and they go to another place, a lot of times you'll have a chance to get them coming back."

The Transfer Portal is a complex and evolving process that will be tweaked over and over. It's interesting how coaches from around college football look at it differently. UCF obvioulsy likes it having signed over 10 transfers in the last calendar year. Other schools go another route.

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney feels much differently, as an example, by way of staying clear of transfers unless it's a graduate transfer. One thing is for certain, the debate about the Transfer Portal will continue.

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