On Thursday, the NCAA Football Oversight Committee voted to support a single transfer portal, per Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger. The 10-day window is expected to open Jan. 2. On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed this report.
Per Dellenger, the vote requires approval from the Administrative Committee by Oct. 1 to take effect this year. Currently, there are two transfer portal windows for college football.
The first window is in December and lasts for 20 days. The second window is in April and lasts for just 10 days. Previously, the portal was open for 45 total days, but the NCAA Division I Council voted to decrease that number to 30 days last October.
The idea of a single transfer portal window has long been discussed. Many coaches have criticized the December window because it occurs while teams prepare for the College Football Playoff and bowl games.
Instead of being able to fully focus on these massive games, coaches are forced to divide their attention to ensure they have a strong roster for next season. Additionally, coaches have complained about the spring window allowing players to learn about a team’s schemes and then transfer to another in-conference school.
In May, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart tore into the existing portal schedule. After all, Smart lost players like Julian Humphrey and Jake Pope to the portal in December while preparing to take on Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
“Every time we come in here, we talk about December is absolutely crazy,” Smart said. “Now, let’s call it January, because hypothetically the portal opened in December, we’re leaning toward that thing opening in January and you get a little more stability in December in terms of let’s sign our high school recruits first, then let’s figure out in January where the semester break ends, who’s staying, and who’s going. So we compartmentalize. Let’s deal with this issue now.”
Smart was far from the only coach affected by the December transfer window. After losing head coach Charles Huff to Southern Miss and consequently suffering an exodus of players to the portal, Marshall was unable to play against Army in the Independence Bowl.
In turn, the Sun Belt fined the Thundering Herd $100,000. While teams aren’t playing official games in the spring, the April window has led numerous programs to abandon their traditional spring scrimmages.
Coaches like Nebraska‘s Matt Rhule cited the fear of other coaches being able to scout players from the scrimmage and recruit them in the portal window as the reason for passing on the annual spring game. If a singular window in January is approved by the Administrative Committee, programs could bring back their spring games without the fear of other programs poaching their players.
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