College football's Transfer Portal is open and already more than a thousand athletes entered before Monday of this week. Another 348 players entered on Tuesday which is a lot of unhappy athletes wanting to join up with another school.There are some pretty big names in it so far including Duke quarterback Riley Leonard and Oregon State quarterback D.J. Uigalelei, who was one of the big names in last year's portal. Uigalelei played for two years at Clemson before being benched for freshman Cade Klubnik and then transferring to Oregon State where he had a very good season.Just last week Coach Matt Rhule of Nebraska said that to get a good quarterback from the Transfer Portal could cost one to two million dollars.
And now with the NIL deal in place for college sports, it's all legal.
Paul " Bear " Bryant and Woody Hayes are likely rolling over in their graves due to the recent changes in college football. Players being paid, being able to transfer from one school to another without sitting out and being able to transfer more than once. Not to mention conference realignments that begin next year. College football has changed so much in the last three years, it's unbelievable.
The fact that players can now sign with any team they want to sign with, with no restrictions and nothing binding is really hard to comprehend. When Bryce Young started at Alabama in 2020 he was a millionaire before he ever took a snap at Bryant Denny Stadium due to a huge NIL deal. Players being paid under the table ruined a lot of coaching careers .and put a lot of schools on probation in the past. Now....not so much.
The Transfer Portal is open for 30 days. Players have until January 2nd to enter the portal and if they decide they want to stay where they are, they can but most athletes who enter will transfer. Also, they don't have to decide where they transfer right away. There are a few schools that don't really believe in the Transfer Portal, yet some of their own players are entering and leaving for greener pastures. Other schools, like Tennessee have made good use of the Transfer Portal.
I've said all along there needs to be some restrictions or regulations regarding transferring. Now, it's wide open and players can switch schools more than once with no penalty. In the NFL and other professional leagues, players just can't transfer after one year. They're under contract and that contract is binding. My general feeling about the Transfer Portal and the name, Image and likeness deals is....nothing good can come from transferring without regulations and paying big time money at will. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com