Spring is in the air, meaning college football teams will be practicing in the rain and pollen! Every team strives to make the most out of these 15 practices held in March and April in an effort to get better. For the same reason why bowl game practices are so important, spring practices are often quite the same. However, there is one key event that often follows the spring game: The spring transfer portal!
The spring transfer portal window opens back up on April 16 and closes once again on April 25. It is only a 10-day period, but one where a player has to put his name into it if he has any plans on transferring before the start of fall camp. Again, this is strictly procedural, but players have to have submitted their name by the 25th to potentially be able to leave one college football team for another.
In the dawn of NIL and the elimination of having to sit out a year upon transferring, the spring transfer portal window has become more en vogue than many of us ever thought was possible. The big window is after the season in December and into early January. To me, the spring window always felt like the NFL's Supplemental Draft. However, there is a bit more movement with this window than that.
Now that we know when the portal opens back and when it closes, why do players enter this portal?
Why do college football players enter the spring transfer portal?
There are a handful of reasons why players enter the transfer portal near the close of the academic year. It could be anything from an underclassmen being homesick and wanting to play ball closer to home, to a player not jiving with his teammates and coach. Right now, there are three primary reasons why players leave. Those would be future playing time, coaching staff changes and NIL opportunities.
The threat of not getting playing time in the upcoming season is by far and away the biggest reason why players transfer. If a guy is in a quarterback race with three players and he clearly finishes in third after spring practice, it may be time for him to go and pursue another opportunity elsewhere. It could be moving down a level, or potentially going somewhere with less competition or a with familiar face.
The other huge one is coaching staff changes. In theory, you are supposed to commit to the school and not a coach because the latter is only temporary. Over the last several years, that has truly not been the case in college football. It has become far more transactional than ever before, oftentimes without consequences. If a player's guy leaves for another team, he may follow him before fall camp.
NIL plays a big role in the spring transfer portal
And finally, NIL... You knew it was coming. This is what extremely paranoid head coaches like Matt Rhule at Nebraska are worried about. They are shaking in their boots over the prospects of having some of their best players poached right out from under them. The NIL game has been mostly seedy throughout its four or five years. If someone is willing to pay for the idea of a player, they may follow.
Overall, adding and subtracting players in the spring transfer portal window is an even more complementary way of building up one's football team. You may get a few guys here and there, but how many will be immediate impact stars for your team in September? It might be great that he is coming to your team, but you have to wonder if his newfound loyalty to you will be tested? It has...
From Tax Day until the latter part of April, we might see more transactions than we ever wanted to.