The Transfer Portal Isn’t Going Away, Get Used to It

I’ve been seeing an unusually-high number of complaints about the NCAA transfer portal over the past week. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth from high school coaches and players has been screeched in recent days.

Here’s the deal: the portal is not going away. Complain, whine, moan all you want. The NCAA is not going to come in, suddenly, and reign in what is working for many college programs. That isn’t to say they shouldn’t, but the reality is that it probably won’t happen. High school coaches and players need to accept this.

But what also will not change are the fundamentals of recruiting: having enough size and speed, putting on great film, high academics and a good word from your high school coach.

The 2024 college football transfer portal cycle set a record with 3,843 names in the FBS portal. This was higher than the previous record of 3,502 in the 2022-23 cycle. There will be way more this year, with the recent rule for JUCO football.

Players have more freedom to switch schools during their college career. At the FBS level, more than 25% of scholarship players transferred after the 2023 season. Thousands of players becoming available each offseason is forcing programs to adapt and rethink how they construct their rosters to stay competitive.

So while people will complain this is the norm.