Collegiate sports have undergone many changes within the last five years alone, including name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, extra years of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic and perhaps the biggest change of all: the transfer portal.
The transfer portal is a tool that launched on Oct. 15, 2018, and it permits student-athletes to put their names in an online database declaring their desire to transfer from one school to another. This means if a player is unhappy with the current school they are attending and competing for, they can easily notify coaches and recruiters from other colleges that they are willing to join a different school and compete in their program.
Players may have a desire to transfer for many different reasons, including following a coach to a different program, looking for more playing time, moving somewhere closer to home or seeking an opportunity to have an NIL deal. The transfer portal can be very beneficial for athletes in these positions. However, when players decide to transfer, they are leaving behind their former teammates and coaches, which may cause some strife within the team. The portal has gained attention from high school student-athletes who hope to continue playing in college.
Senior wide receiver and track sprinter Aric Johnson said, “If you enter the portal and end up not transferring, your teammates may view it as you don’t want to be there anymore, and that could really take the morale down.”
The biggest reason athletes utilize the transfer portal is to get a better opportunity for more playing time at a different college. We have seen numerous examples of this in recent history, and current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is a great example. He played as the starting quarterback for the University of Alabama for two seasons before being benched his junior year when Tua Tagovailoa, who is currently the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, started over him. Hurts utilized the transfer portal and took the opportunity to transfer to the University of Oklahoma, where he played for his final year of eligibility and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Examples like Hurts and the success he found both at Oklahoma and then in the NFL have alerted high school student-athletes with collegiate ambitions to the potential benefits of the portal.
“I think a great advantage is being valued at a place where you weren’t valued at originally,” Johnson said. “You could go somewhere where you’re really wanted, [rather than] staying somewhere you don’t play because they think another player is better than you.”
Jeff Goodman is a basketball analyst who has spent two decades covering the sport at the high school, college and professional levels, and he has experienced collegiate basketball both prior to and after the emergence of the transfer portal. He said, “There’s so much movement that I think it is affecting and will affect the quality of play as much as anything else because you’re going to have a complete roster overall every single year, and not have the chemistry and the continuity that you’ve had over the years.”
Before the transfer portal, college athletes would have to ask their coach for permission before contacting other schools. But that sort of situation has changed dramatically because of the portal. According to an ESPN report, 8,699 NCAA football players entered the transfer portal between Aug. 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, with that number exceeding transfer totals in previous years. The University of Colorado in Boulder is a prime example of a team that has benefited from the portal, as new head coach Deion Sanders saw 71 players enter the portal and then filled those vacancies with new talent, according to an Axios report.
“It depends on the situation. It can be really positive, and it could also hurt high school athletes. As it grows, it will slow down recruiting and hold up high school athletes because they have to wait for colleges to find transfers,” head varsity football coach Michael Thorgesen said.
High school athletes now have to worry about current college players who may transfer to the school they are hoping to play for, which could lead to them losing a spot on the team. This can be tough for high school athletes who are simultaneously focused on finishing their sports seasons, applying for college scholarships and doing well in the classroom. Football and basketball players aren’t the only ones who have to think about these possibilities; the portal involves all sports.
Senior volleyball player Rosie Karl, committed to Aurora University, recognizes the range of possibilities in relation to the transfer portal.
“I believe the transfer portal has a lot of negative and positive effects,” Karl said. “Players that happen to improve fast have the opportunity to move to other schools to improve even more. The transfer portal can be negative because it can affect the playing time of athletes who choose to stay.”
As the transfer portal continues to impact the collegiate sports landscape, it can both improve and hurt college sports in multiple ways. Colleges are going to have to find ways to keep and develop athletes in their own programs and not lose them to the transfer portal.
“If athletes just transfer to big schools, then nothing will be left for smaller Division 1 schools like Northwestern or Rutgers,” Thorgesen said.
