Pros and Cons of the Transfer Portal

By Jace Hinton November 20, 2024 17:24

Photo by Aric Becker/ISI Photos via Getty Images

The transfer portal is one of the most talked-about topics in college sports. Now, players can be unhappy and just leave their current school without having to sit out a season, but has this diminished college football? Or has it made college football even better? We will break down the pros of the Transfer Portal.
Pros:

1. Players and Coaches:

Coaches have been recruiting for years. They have also been getting newer, better-paying jobs, and they just up and leave and are also allowed to go and coach immediately. When being recruited, players commit to coaches most of the time rather than the school. There are a few exceptions, with mainly academic schools like Standford, the Ivy League schools, and military academies are those few exceptions. The best example of these we see is with Deion Sanders. When Coach Prime came to Colorado from Jackson State, he brought tons of players, such as his sons Shilo and Sheduer Sanders, kicker Alejandro Mata, and, of course, the one and only Travis Hunter. Those players who commit to a coach can now leave and follow that said coach.

2. Opportunities:

Coaches have also had the ability to lie to players, so now players can leave if the program is not what they thought it was going to be during the recruiting process. If they are unhappy with the program, they can search for a better opportunity.

3. Small name, big place:

We have seen this with Cam Ward as the best example. He went from no offers to future first-round picks. He had the ability to transfer from an FCS school to an FBS school and then to Miami (FL). He has proven that he is capable of playing at the highest level and putting his name out there to be a future first-round pick. Other examples are Colorado's Jimmy Horn Jr. and LaJohntay Wester, who have been balling out for Colorado, and both of them came from smaller universities in Florida USF
and FAU and now could be draft picks in this coming year's draft.

4. Every year is now different:

In the past it would be a waiting period for a coach to geth his players and recruits in and now they can go to the portal and get the players they want and now all the sudden they are a contender for a title. That has played to the benefit of teams like Colorado, Oregon, and Miami (FL) this season.

Drawbacks:

However, the portal has its drawbacks. You have players who bounce around from school to school every year because they are not playing, as well as players who are chasing the NIL money. Also, fans in the past could connect to these players, but now they do not know the players because they transfer. It can be hard for some fans to keep track of their players and their teams, so it has drawbacks.

Overall the transfer portal has been good for college football as it has added more excitement to the game and gave it more viewers since they can watch players were they move to. It also have given players an opportunity to find a home that they fit in better and get players out of situations that maybe is not the best for them.