Unintended Consequences of the Transfer Portal

[toddc 13,194]

Caldwell Column: Unintended consequences of the transfer portal

VIP  ByJASON CALDWELL 3 hours ago 

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We have already seen the transfer portal in football and basketball become a big deal the last few seasons with players all over the country seeking a fresh start. While it has been expected to happen, when the NCAA gave a blanket one-time free transfer to all D1 athletes it opened up Pandora’s box for college programs all over the country and unless something is done this could have very dire consequences for years to come at both the college and high school levels.

In college basketball the turnover of rosters had already been happening, but things have been taken to another level in the last year with around 40 percent of the scholarship players in the country actively in the portal or at least taking a peek.

For Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers along we have seen Jamal Johnson, Turbo Jones, Justin Powell and Javon Franklin move on to other programs with JT Thor’s future still in question. The good news for Auburn and every other basketball program around the country is the only limit to the number of players you can bring in each year is 13, your total roster size. Being able to replace players who choose to leave via the portal has already proven to be a huge deal for teams and it will only continue to become more important in the future.

Now flip to football to consider what Bryan Harsin and other coaches, especially first-year coaches, are dealing with at the moment.

The transfer portal works the same way in football as it does in basketball, but how coaches are able to deal with it are much different and that’s how things could unravel pretty quickly.

Unlike a basketball team, which can sign as many players as it needs in a class, college football programs are limited to 25 a year. No matter how many players a program loses it can only bring in 25 new ones for that calendar year’s signing class. That includes transfers, who must count against the initial 25 number.

The only workaround is to have guys come in and pay their own way during the summer and not go on scholarship until August. You can then count them against the next year’s class.

That’s still not a good way to deal with the potential of having some huge gaps on football rosters around the country in the years to come. 

 

Jaren Handy is one of Auburn's players in the portal. (Photo: Adam Sparks / Inside the Auburn Tigers)

 

All you have to do is look at Auburn right now. Currently the Tigers have three spots left in the 2021 class to potentially bring in transfers before the start of the season. If Auburn loses eight total players off the spring roster between now and then, the Tigers would only be able to add three of those spots back. That would mean they would be starting with a scholarship roster of 80 instead of 85. 

There will be teams across the country hit harder than that with the transfer portal, making the numbers even more of an issue for those programs.

The unintended consequence of the whole portal situation is that in football there are going to be lots of kids left without a place to play unless the NCAA changes its stance on 25 or transfers counting against that number.

Don’t even get me started on what it’s going to look like for the partial scholarship sports like baseball, where one doesn’t equal one. At least in football and basketball you’re swapping one scholarship for another.

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In a partial scholarship sport you could lose a player in the transfer portal who was getting 40 percent of a scholarship. You may find a player who perfectly fits what you’re looking for to fill a need area, but another college has 60 percent they are willing to offer. It’s going to create a potential bidding war, which could lead to even more issues.

Lots of questions that are still left unanswered and the NCAA is the one that’s supposed to have them. Good luck with that.

Comments (17) 

 

[W.E.D 11,070]

Yeah, they are going to have to do something.  Limit of 25 per class, when you graduate 15-20, then have 10-15 transfers per class and you're going to eventually have a hard time staying at the 85 cap.

Need to separate transfers and incoming freshman. Maybe have a transfer in cap of a certain number

[oracle79 3,569]

Or, once a ton of players enter the portal and can't find a spot and their old team won't take them back, they'll figure out they need to have a spot lined up before they enter the portal. Smart teams will compensate by hiring a full-time roster management person to figure out who's staying/leaving and what's available and balance it all against the 85/25 rule. Or the NCAA can do something and make it worse.

[toddc 13,194]

I read where CBH met with each player for 30 minutes recently and then they met with position coach. Wondering if this led to some of the transfers we’re seeing all of a sudden.

[casatiger 514]

They already have this figured out.  They are going to give bammer, clemson, tosu, chokelahoma, and ND 150 scholarships.  The rest stays at 85.  Problem solved.  

[steeleagle 2,945]

21 hours ago, toddc said:

I read where CBH met with each player for 30 minutes recently and then they met with position coach. Wondering if this led to some of the transfers we’re seeing all of a sudden.

Depends on what the meeting w their position coach was for. Could just be coincidental. I would have thought they had already met with each player, but this could have been intended after the A-day game, and the position coaches evaluation of each player from all the spring practices...

[bigbird 60,580]

2 hours ago, steeleagle said:

Depends on what the meeting w their position coach was for. Could just be coincidental. I would have thought they had already met with each player, but this could have been intended after the A-day game, and the position coaches evaluation of each player from all the spring practices...

Correct, typically there is a pre/post spring meeting with players and position groups

[augolf1716 21,432]

11 minutes ago, bigbird said:

typically there is a pre/post spring meeting with players and position groups

Do you do that with your 5th graders?

[bigbird 60,580]

5 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Do you do that with your 5th graders?

No, but the to-be sophomore, juniors, and seniors seem to appreciate knowing what to focus on over the summer

[augolf1716 21,432]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

No, but the sophomore, juniors, and to-be seniors seem to appreciate knowing what to focus on over the summer

Really is that the best you can do? Disappointed

[AUApostle 7,663]

On 5/6/2021 at 1:36 PM, toddc said:

I read where CBH met with each player for 30 minutes recently and then they met with position coach. Wondering if this led to some of the transfers we’re seeing all of a sudden.

How many people here could handle 85 straight 30 minute player meetings?

[augolf1716 21,432]

20 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

How many people here could handle 85 straight 30 minute player meetings?

As long as I had PBR's no problem............................

[McLoofus 35,182]

30 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

As long as I had PBR's no problem............................

You just turned the worst 2 days ever into the worst 2 days ever followed by the worst hangover ever. Lordy I swear that stuff has actual lead in it.