The Transfer Portal has become like the Wild West, but the NCAA finally established some order that made sense to benefit both programs and players.
The NCAA on Wednesday announced that it eliminated the spring transfer window for college football, which used to give student-athletes a second chance to transfer in April after spring practices. In October, the committee will meet and vote to set the winter transfer window dates for Jan. 2-11, rather than the Transfer Portal being open Dec. 9-28 like last year.
NCAA eliminates spring transfer window for college football
The new single window will eliminate late movement after most teams have already finished spring ball and second semesters were well underway. That shorter window in the spring gave programs less time and talent to replace what they lost, and it was even bad timing for the talent gained.
The Oklahoma Sooners are proof of the spring window's flaws. Running back Jaydn Ott transferred to OU from California during the spring as one of the best players available. However, although he was considered the best running back in the Transfer Portal and expected to take over the Sooners' backfield, Ott has just nine carries for 17 yards through three games as OU's RB4.
Because of his late move, Ott missed the Sooners' spring practices, when winter transfers, like quarterback John Mateer, and recent high school signees got acclimated to their new program. Then, Ott was injured and missed over two weeks of fall camp, so now four weeks into the regular season, the Sooners still barely know what they have in Ott other than what they saw on tape while scouting him.
“You wish he was a little further along in every way," OU head coach Brent Venables said after OU's last game, in which Ott didn't get a carry until the fourth quarter.
Ott's injury history has certainly played a role in his lackluster start, but getting to his new team late, then missing what was already minimal time, definitely didn't help. And once the season kicks off, practices are used to prepare for the next opponent, not experiment and evaluate new players.
That spring transfer window rarely benefitted players or programs, especially in Ott's case. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava at UCLA, which just fired its coach at 0-3, is another example. The Transfer Portal was created to benefit athletes, and even sometimes programs, but in the spring, no one was a beneficiary.
Read more about OU football