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February 8, 2021 By: Mark Knudson

The turf isn’t always greener in the NCAA Transfer Portal

Back in 1979, when he found out he’d been passed over in the fan voting to be the starting shortstop for the National League, St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Garry Templeton authored a quote for the ages. Even after he was selected as a reserve by Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda, Templeton balked. He reportedly told folks, “If I ain’t startin’, I ain’t departin’.” He didn’t show up.

Little did we know the mantra would become commonplace four decades later.

We now live during a generation where seeking instant gratification is not the exception, it’s the rule. When it comes to young athletes of almost any age, if they aren’t starting, they are departing. Especially in the world of college football.

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There was a time when a high school football recruit would choose a school to attend for four years, and while he was there he would work toward getting a (cost-free) college degree, while playing for the school’s football team, and hopefully later getting a shot at a professional career. If not, as the TV commercial says, he could go pro in something other than sports.

That’s changed gradually – and dramatically – over the years. Players leaving school early for a professional career is now typical. But what’s changed more recently is the relaxing of transfer rules. Players used to have to sit out a full year if they wanted to transfer to a different school. No more. Rule changes have resulted in full on college football free agency.

It’s called the “Transfer Portal” and it’s designed to allow student athletes who aren’t totally happy with their current situation (meaning they aren’t getting immediate gratification in the form of playing time in most cases) the chance to bail and try to get re-recruited by putting their name in the portal for other schools and coaches to see and recruit from.

It may sound reasonable to most – especially in light of the fact that coaches can jump from school to school with no penalty whatsoever – but it’s causing a mess. The big difference of course is that coaches leave for higher paying gigs, not because they are disenchanted. These kids see coaches getting lucrative new deals and it just re-enforces that whole, “the grass is greener on the other side of the street” idea in kids, even though that notion has proven to be totally and completely false.

As of right now, just after national letter of intent signing day, there are almost 2,000 college football players in the Transfer Portal. That’s 2,000 kids without a school to play for; kids who mistakenly believed they’d find instant gratification somewhere other than the school they thought was the best place for them at the outset. That number is expected to grow to closer to 3,000 by the summer. Some of these kids – and their parents/advisors – just assumed that since they were highly recruited out of high school that the moment they became available again, other schools would begin pursuing them all over again. The trouble with that idea is that roster spots are no longer available.

The pandemic has exacerbated everything of course. Giving all college football players an additional year of eligibility has created a roster spot logjam for not just incoming freshmen, but even more so for guys hoping to transfer in someplace and instantly get on the field. In the majority of cases, those roster and playing spots just aren’t available.

Let’s look at Nebraska as one example.

A place that used to be a model of consistency is now in a state of upheaval. After the end of the recent excuse for a college football season, Huskers coach Scott Frost saw his leading offensive playmaker, wideout/running back Wan’Dale Robinson, transfer to Kentucky, saying he wanted to be closer to home. Then former USC running back Markese Stepp transferred in. NU lost quarterback Luke McCaffrey – a former four star recruit – to the transfer portal but added one of the leading receivers from FCS in Montana wideout Samori Toure, who transferred in as a graduate transfer. Nebraska has lost no less than five players to the portal already and spring football – after which the majority of college football players finalize plans to transfer – hasn’t begun yet.

You can’t tell these Cornhuskers without a game program anymore. And it’s like that at a large number of schools.

In the case of McCaffrey, he was a heralded QB recruit out of Colorado when he arrived on campus in 2019. He got some playing time at receiver and QB before taking advantage of the new redshirt rules that allowed a player to participate in four games and keep his eligibility. Little did anyone know that he’d still keep that freshman status the following year. This past season, McCaffrey actually started a game at QB for the Huskers but was erratic – like many freshmen tend to be – and was returned to a reserve role. He still had four years of eligibility remaining and was touted as the Big Red’s QB of the future.

But he couldn’t wait that long. Patience is apparently not among Luke’s virtues. So, he entered the portal.

He’s still in there. Lost in no (scholarship) man’s land.

His brother Dylan – another four star recruit who signed and played parts of two seasons at Michigan – was stuck in the portal too, before he landed with his father, Northern Colorado head coach Ed McCaffrey, at an FCS school. Perhaps Luke will land in there too, finding out that the turf isn’t always greener. He’s one of approximately 60% of transfer portal entrants who end up going down a level to find a new home.

As a society, we aren’t very good at waiting for much of anything anymore. Paying one’s dues is a thing of the past. We want everything from our coffee to our news instantly. Maybe in that regard, these kids that are bailing out of their commitments and opting to enter the overcrowded transfer portal are learning an important life lesson: Good things can come to those who wait. And when you are impatient, and demand everything be the way you want right on the spot…well, not so much.