Transfer portal opens today
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The transfer portal officially opens on Monday in a step that further revolutionizes the recruiting landscape, roster management and the entire scene of college football.
“It’s about to hit hot and heavy,” Penn State coach James Franklin said Sunday.
That’s an understatement.
The list keeps growing rapidly of players who have already entered the portal because they are grad transfers or play on a team whose coach was fired, or players that have announced their intention to enter. That group should grow by maybe the hundreds - if not more - early this week and beyond.
Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei announced he’s headed to the portal on Sunday. Among QBs alone, Uiagalelei joins Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong, Texas’ Hudson Card, Notre Dame’s Drew Pyne, Michigan’s Cade McNamara, Texas A&M’s Haynes King and numerous other big-timers.
And that’s at quarterback alone.
The balance of recruiting high school players and developing them or putting them on the field early in their careers has been adjusted because of the transfer portal, where immediate success might be had.
Heisman Trophy frontrunner Caleb Williams at USC was a transfer this season. So was South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler, Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker and so many others.
We opened Monday with 155 players ranked in the Rivals Transfer Portal Rankings and that will continue to grow. Soon a team portal ranking will be released and then a blended ranking to reflect the entirety of a recruiting class. Uiagalelei currently leads the ranking.
The transfer portal has changed how recruiting works and how teams operate. In his introductory speech to the Colorado team, new coach Deion Sanders openly encouraged some players to hit the portal and said he’s bringing his own luggage with him from Jackson State.
“And it’s Louis [Vuitton],” Sanders said.
It’s an amazing time in college football with the Early Signing Period only weeks away, NIL and now the transfer portal opening.
Buckle up.