After a coach is fired in college football, a 30-day window for transfers opens. This allows players on the team to declare their intent to transfer out of the school, but obviously, they cannot play until the following season. With many firings already occurring, what are some notable names that have entered the portal?
Players to Enter the College Football Transfer Portal
Only One So Far: Donte Lovett
Not very surprisingly, not many players want to leave immediately and wait until next season to play. However, there has been one departure from Virginia Tech, which fired Brent Fry after a 0-3 start. Donte Lovett, a 3-star CB from Maryland, will take his business elsewhere. Other than that, though, teams like UCLA and Oklahoma State have seen no one enter the portal. Of course, this would be mostly strange since they would have to wait.
Instead, keep an eye on freshman talents and players who aren’t starters. These players may not really care about the remainder of the season and leave. Not many of these teams have elite, freshman talent other than UCLA. Even then, though, it will be interesting to see if there will be a mass exodus of players from these struggling universities.
Transfer Portal Window Narrowed Down
The spring portal window is no more. This means that if an immense talent wants to move from one university to another, they must do so within a 20-day window in December. This makes it easier for many teams to manage. Now, this becomes more like an organized free agency, allowing teams to retain talent, and usually major talent at that, after the only window. The transfer portal is now a significant part of college football.
It has been a long time, but it is now akin to a massive free agency period. It is like recruiting elite talent within just 20 days. Now, a recruiting class doesn’t matter as much. If your team performs well in the portal, then talent is automatically improved, eliminating the need for recruiting top-tier players. For these schools that just fired their coaches though, they might find it troublesome to do as well as other schools. Overall though, this change is a good thing for college football. Too much chaos has entered the sport, and this simplifies things for players and coaches alike.
0-12 or 1-11? These Teams Are in Serious Risk of Doing So, and That Obviously Doesn’t Help
There are a couple of teams that can be 0-12 or 1-11 this season, which obviously, doesn’t help the transfer portal situation. UCLA is 0-3 with nine BIG Ten opponents left on the schedule. By far, the most winnable game is their upcoming contest with the Northwestern Wildcats. If UCLA finds a way to lose to the Wildcats, then it will be hard to scratch out one win this season. As for Oklahoma State, the Cowboys have won one game this season.
However, after going 0-9 in Big 12 play last season, the Cowboys will have to end their long Big 12 losing streak in order to win more than one game this season. The Cowboys have found a way to lose their last 10 Big 12 games… Virginia Tech will also look to avoid a 1-11 season with only ACC opponents left on the schedule. The most likely team to go 0-12 this season? Probably UMASS who lost to Bryant University (don’t know who they are? Exactly), and they will have to face nine MAC opponents to cap the season.
Overall, there haven’t been many names to enter the portal. However, expect to see these teams lose a lot of players who aren’t interested to staying at the struggling schools. The transfer portal is such a big thing now that who wins the portal is bound to win more games. It will be interesting to see the talent that enters in this window and next.
Main Image: Brian Bishop-Imagn Images
