College football has certainly changed a lot in the last couple of years. Whether it is rule changes, new uniforms, NIL, or the play style of the game, everything looks completely different than it did a few years ago. However, the most impactful changes to the game have been the transfer portal.
Originally, the transfer portal was viewed as something that would be utilized by players who were looking for either a better opportunity or perhaps hadn’t played at the expected level and were looking to play at a lower level. However, it has evolved into something much more than that.
NIL Has Changed The Transfer Portal
I’m not here to say the NIL or the transfer portal is bad; however, both of them coming to the sport around the same time may not have been the best thing for college football. The issue is both are still very new, and they are not refined yet to where they will likely end up in a few years. The purpose of the transfer portal was never to be used as a leverage tool. However, that can be seen with how many players are withdrawing their name from the portal after not finding a better NIL deal from the current school.
This can be seen with only 48 players withdrawing their names from the portal last year. As of today, 100 players have already withdrawn their names, with many more expected to in the coming weeks. Some may argue that this is fair game, but in the real world, life doesn’t really work like that. While asking for a raise is certainly fair, it is unlikely that you can go onto social media to claim you were looking for a new job and then expect and hope that your current job will turn around and pay more money just to stay.
Statistically More Than 50% of Players Will Transfer
![College Football Transfer Portal Report: Over 50% of Players Will Transfer at Some Point 2 Transfer Portal NCAA Football](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NCAA-Transfer-Portal.jpg)
Again, when the transfer portal was created, it was made for the exception, not the average player. In other words, maybe the top two or three players on a G5 school would look for opportunities at a P4 school, or maybe a former four-star talent who isn’t playing may look for another opportunity, but the purpose wasn’t to have more than half the players transferred some point.
As of May 1st, there are 3,113 players in the transfer portal, and that number could very easily rise to 3,500 before the start of the 2024 season. In college football, there are about 19,300 players. If you divide that number by 3,500, the number comes out to 5.5. In other words, one in every 5 1/2 players has put their name in the transfer portal just this year.
There aren’t any statistics to say whether the average football career is four years, five years, or even three years, but let’s say it’s four, which would mean that based on this math, more than 75% of players will transfer at some point in their college football career. Of course, there are some outlier numbers to consider, such as players transferring multiple times, and many don’t end up finding a new home, but the fact still remains, with the way things are trending, most team’s senior night will feature more players that transferred into the school then players who started at the school and finished their four-year careers there.
Is This Good For the Sport?
![College Football Transfer Portal Report: Over 50% of Players Will Transfer at Some Point 3 Deion Sanders loves to rely heavily on the transfer portal - college football](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/USATSI_22004627_168400517_lowres-scaled.jpg)
This is a really difficult question to answer. On the one hand, yes, you want players to be free to play where they see fit and best for themselves. However, at the same time, it can be very difficult to watch the entire roster fall apart, or even a complete roster come together in one year and then not feel that emotional or fan connection to the players. Of course, nobody will care if their team goes to the national championship, but most teams are not doing that.
It is completely possible that casual fans will lose interest in their team if they feel like their team will be picked apart every single season, particularly at the G5 and lower P4 levels. One example is Utah State. The Aggies had 21 players enter the transfer portal. Most of these players were starters looking for better opportunities. Imagine being an Aggie fan, knowing that if you have a decent season, not even a great one – they finished 6-7, all of the best players will be gone the following season, and things will have to start again on step one.
In my opinion, this cannot be good for the sport in the long run.
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