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Wisconsin Badgers football could have fewer opportunities to add transfer portal players in 2026

The NCAA is considering limiting football players to only one transfer portal window in the winter, leaving teams like the Wisconsin Badgers one chance to add outside players.
Lorin Cox|
Aug 28, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Mason Reiger (22) celebrates a play during the game against the Miami (OH) RedHawks at Camp Randall Stadium.
Aug 28, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Mason Reiger (22) celebrates a play during the game against the Miami (OH) RedHawks at Camp Randall Stadium. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers found a few key players in the spring transfer portal window this offseason.

They might lose that opportunity in 2026 and beyond.

The NCAA's Football Oversight Committee met Thursday and voted to recommend a change to the transfer portal system.

If approved by the full NCAA Administrative Committee, players would have only one 10-day window to enter the transfer portal in January. The second window in the spring would disappear.

This would create one action-packed stretch of college football transactions, and then rosters would be set for the rest of year except for high school recruiting.

For Wisconsin, this means they wouldn't have the opportunity to add a tight end like Lance Mason or an offensive tackle like Davis Heinzen to fill key holes at the end of spring.

It also means they woudn't lose a star tight end like Tanner Koziol, who had transfered to the Badgers in the winter but then changed his mind and re-entered the portal in the spring.

Every player would have one chance to decide whether they want to stay or go, and then they'll be forced to stick with whatever decision they make.

One concern is that it could lead to more situations like the Badgers experienced with cornerback Xavier Lucas.

He subverted the transfer portal by unenrolling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and enrolling as a student at the University of Miami to join the Hurricanes football program.

Wisconsin is suing Miami over the move, alleging direct tampering from the Hurricanes that facilitated the move.

Lucas had requested the Badgers entering him into the transfer portal, but they denied his request because of a multi-year revenue-sharing contract he had signed with the team.

Lucas' attorney argued that the contract did not bind him to the university and that the program was violating NCAA rules by not allowing it.

If the cornerback didn't have to use the transfer portal to switch schools, other players could try something similar, especially if they don't have a second transfer window to change schools.

It will make that initial portal recruiting push that much more important for Fickell and his staff to retain their top talent and attract the best available players from other programs.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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