Jake Yono

JY Journalism

4/18/25

My Thoughts On The Transfer Portal and NIL In College Sports

As College football and basketball are coming up, the trend of transfers has ramped up year by year at an increasing rate. It’s only going up (NCAA Transfer Portal Data) and Name Image and Likeness (NIL) rights granted in 2021 which are shaping the game like never before wit players and recruiters now factoring in how many money, and brand deals they can attain along with how ood the program is and it’s tough to navigate in this day in age.  With a third of football and basketball players transferring at least once in their carrer for positive or negative reasons, on the other hand, and honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. In this article, I will be giving you guys my comprehensive viewpoint on it all from an executive perspective and an individual player's point of view.

A belief I have about all sports in general is that when the formula is not clicking right away, there’s always room to innovate, and with prominent coaching experience, athletes can excel into dominant forces even if their underclassmen years don’t work out. This statement is only true in select programs with established resumes and consistent tenures to draw in players who will stay and develop. Some examples include Auburn In college basketball which are led by supurb coach Bruce Pearl who advanced them in the NCAA Tournament 5 times in the past 7 years, the same thing can be said with UConn who won 2 consecutive tournaments dating back to 2023 and with a strict brand of basketball under Dan Hurley, the team doesn’t always half to be at the top every year to be established a great example of this is the Kansas Jayhawks who under Bill Self’s leadership always seem to be in the tournament mix. On the football side, these brands are Ohio State (Which does it the best), Texas, and Michigan, which was an off year in Ann Arbor, but players can trust them to bring out the best in them and win if they're not at the bottom of the bench. The point I’m trying to get across is that only a few select schools can be like this, as we all know it’s very hard to maintain a prominent regime of consistency and alacrity in college sports. This leads to players becoming dissatisistfied and transferring even if they are one of the best on their team we have seen that if a better player does not like his current situation he will most likely move to a less prominent school and vice versa we are seeing this as those players will move up for the mentorship purposes and my thoughts are that I support it but would like more true commitments to schools as incoming freshman, a good example of this is Duke star Cooper Flagg committing and he will most likely remain at Duke until he leaves for the NBA, a not so good example of this is former Memphis basketball star P.J. Haggerty who started his carrer out at TCU where he knew he wouldne’t be a star right away and transferred after only playing 6 games his freshman year to Tulsa where he average 20+ a game and got to shine, after that season he moved to Memphis and put up similar numbers. I wonder if he would have stayed at TCU and developed what would have happened if he and many other players who do the same thing would of stayed. On the football side Jerrimah Smith of Ohio State is a player that stayed true to his commitment and will most likely stay in Columbus while A player like Ernest Hausman who begun at Nebraska and didn’t reach his full potential, he then got the nod from Michigan to transfer and helped them win a national title in 2023, in 2024 he stepped up as one of the true linebackers on a team and got substantially better within the talented Michigan defence and I’m excited to see what he will do senior year solidifying my point that if he would of stayed at Nebraska in which he started in 7 games and had 54 total tackles, this situation is kind-of different but it did pay-off as this season he led Michigan in total tackles with 89. A couple of situations that did not work out are first on the basketball side is A.J.. Storr, who was averaging 16 points per game at Wisconsin, then overestimated himself by transferring to Kansas, and his minutes and scoring production went down. In conclusion, on the player's side, if the player wants more mentorship or a playing time change, I believe they must consult with the coach and discern all opportunities presented in front of them, and their careers will take a huge jump because of this.

From an executive standpoint, some coaches support the transfer portal while others refute it. Michigan State Basketball coach Tom Izzo stated that the portal will simply make his job tougher, and he still has a passion for coaching, but he will allow it while trying to limit it within his program. In this article, he spoke about Tre Holloman coming in and a couple of other players leaving (Spartans Wire). On the football side former Alabama coach Nick Saban stated that partially the reason he left was because expressed frustration with the direction of college football, particularly with the NILrules and the transfer portal He was concerned that the sport was becoming more transactional and harder to build and sustain team culture which a certsntly sgree with as it does disrupt team culture with players constantly entering and leaving programs where he described that while it offers student-athletes greater flexibility, it also requires careful management to maintain program stability. He emphasized the importance of supporting student-athletes through these transitions to ensure their academic and athletic success. ​ Manuel has also highlighted the need for clear guidelines and support systems within the transfer process to help student-athletes make informed decisions. He believes that with proper oversight, the transfer portal can be a beneficial tool for both athletes and programs. This means he wants more regulation and supports the motives of players for trying to find the best fit. Overall, I agree with the University of Michigan's Athletic director.

It’s going to be vary interesting to see where this transfer portal and NIL stuff is going to go in the next few years as it certainly in not slowing down and it’s not just present in football and basketball in all sports this is inheriantely present and players are going to continue to find the best destinations while coaches and executives will try to maintain and build up championship rosters which will never change from the world of sports.