NCAA approves single transfer portal window: How the new rule will impact college football

[BleedGopher]

Per CBS:

College football's transfer portal season just got much shorter.

The NCAA Administrative Committee on Wednesday adopted a proposal to eliminate the spring transfer portal window, moving away from the previous two-window system that allowed players to submit their names in the portal over 30 days across the winter and spring. Changes will go into effect this season, with precise dates to be determined next month.

The key takeaway is the elimination of post-spring transfer movement, a popular option that more than 1,000 FBS players took advantage of this year.

"I desperately think one window is better," Nebraska coach Matt Rhule told CBS Sports. "Basketball has one window. So it's not like we're the first sport to do it. We're just making ourselves whole like the other sports."

Said a FBS general manager: "Having to retain your roster twice a year was ridiculous."

NCAA approves single transfer portal window: How the new rule will impact college football

Beginning this year, players will no longer be able to transfer during the spring.

www.cbssports.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[PMWinSTP]

I think this will settle some of the jumping around. Also, be very strategic on when that window occurs. I still think the portal helps programs like MN more than it hurts them.

 

[matt]

If a player doesn’t like where they shake out after spring ball, can they unenroll and maybe play juco the next fall to preserve eligibility?

 

[PMWinSTP]

If a player doesn’t like where they shake out after spring ball, can they unenroll and maybe play juco the next fall to preserve eligibility?

I believe they can, and then enroll at any other school to play. They would lose their scholarship, forgo any pay they are receiving from the school, and presume they would lose any NIL money as well.

 

[GopherMenace]

Does the spring game make a comeback now?

 

[MaxyJR1]

Basically, players will be committed to a program from January to December of each season or 30 days after their season ends.

Fall sports are tougher with the season ending in the middle of the school year.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Per CBS:

College football's transfer portal season just got much shorter.

The NCAA Administrative Committee on Wednesday adopted a proposal to eliminate the spring transfer portal window, moving away from the previous two-window system that allowed players to submit their names in the portal over 30 days across the winter and spring. Changes will go into effect this season, with precise dates to be determined next month.

The key takeaway is the elimination of post-spring transfer movement, a popular option that more than 1,000 FBS players took advantage of this year.

"I desperately think one window is better," Nebraska coach Matt Rhule told CBS Sports. "Basketball has one window. So it's not like we're the first sport to do it. We're just making ourselves whole like the other sports."

Said a FBS general manager: "Having to retain your roster twice a year was ridiculous."

NCAA approves single transfer portal window: How the new rule will impact college football

Beginning this year, players will no longer be able to transfer during the spring.

www.cbssports.com

Go Gophers!!

Unless the new rule states otherwise players are free to transfer outside the portal. The portal is only there to facilitate the marketing of that player’s availability. The player could tweet at any coaching staff at a desirable landing spot and achieve same effect. Unenroll at school A, enroll at school B.

The stickier issue would be any binding revenue sharing or NIL contract but those could…potentially run afoul of antitrust laws. They are not employees. This is all made up legal loophole land.

If anyone is aware if House negates Sherman please fill us in. I wonder if players will challenge this. I see Xavier Lucas is playing at Miami this year.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Unless the new rule states otherwise players are free to transfer outside the portal. The portal is only there to facilitate the marketing of that player’s availability. The player could tweet at any coaching staff at a desirable landing spot and achieve same effect. Unenroll at school A, enroll at school B.

The stickier issue would be any binding revenue sharing or NIL contract but those could…potentially run afoul of antitrust laws. They are not employees. This is all made up legal loophole land.

If anyone is aware if House negates Sherman please fill us in. I wonder if players will challenge this. I see Xavier Lucas is playing at Miami this year.

Was thinking the same thing. The portal is a tool to assist players and teams with the transfer process by making it known to teams that a player is looking to transfer and opening them up to be contacted by other schools. But a player can still transfer anytime they want, regardless of whether they go into the transfer portal or not.

That said, I would think that having just one transfer window as opposed to two would slow down some of the insane roster churn currently taking place due to the portal. Should make the process of retaining your current players a little bit easier for coaches.

The real question though is if anything is going to be done to limit the poaching that goes on where teams (or someone with a connection to the team like a collective) are contacting players not in the portal to get them to transfer?

 

[swede2]

I wonder if the volume of portalling players will stay the same but be consolidated into the single portal window instaed of spread over two? I would guess a lotof guys that previously entered the spring window were already contemplating transferring but waited to see where they stood in spring/what the new staff was like/etc. I think they'll simply portal post season with the potential option of coming back.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Unless the new rule states otherwise players are free to transfer outside the portal. The portal is only there to facilitate the marketing of that player’s availability. The player could tweet at any coaching staff at a desirable landing spot and achieve same effect. Unenroll at school A, enroll at school B.

I don't think the staff can respond though or it would be tampering? AFAIK, coaching staffs can only have contact with other teams' players if they are listed in the portal.

Sure, a collective could do that work, but that's slightly different than what you wrote. Plus, would any player really transfer without talking to the actual coaches they'll be playing for? Not just head coach, but you'd probably wanna know your coordinator and position coach.

So I don't think players can achieve the same effect.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

I don't think the staff can respond though or it would be tampering? AFAIK, coaching staffs can only have contact with other teams' players if they are listed in the portal.

Sure, a collective could do that work, but that's slightly different than what you wrote. Plus, would any player really transfer without talking to the actual coaches they'll be playing for? Not just head coach, but you'd probably wanna know your coordinator and position coach.

So I don't think players can achieve the same effect.

I am highly doubtful anyone is enforcing anything at this point in time. Even in cases like the Michigan cheating, multiple Harbaugh staff NCAA recruiting rules violations they (Michigan) were given a manageable fine rather than roster reduction or postseason bans and even then it required a whistleblower to out the surveillance scheme. A reasonable person takes that risk all day. I didn’t say ethical.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Unless the new rule states otherwise players are free to transfer outside the portal. The portal is only there to facilitate the marketing of that player’s availability. The player could tweet at any coaching staff at a desirable landing spot and achieve same effect. Unenroll at school A, enroll at school B.

The stickier issue would be any binding revenue sharing or NIL contract but those could…potentially run afoul of antitrust laws. They are not employees. This is all made up legal loophole land.

If anyone is aware if House negates Sherman please fill us in. I wonder if players will challenge this. I see Xavier Lucas is playing at Miami this year.

If the NIL contracts are like other service related contracts, there will be termination language that spells out when either side can end the contract.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

If the NIL contracts are like other service related contracts, there will be termination language that spells out when either side can end the contract.

I remember someone leaked the Big Ten rev sharing template last year and it was pretty awfully one-sided. I can’t imagine anyone with leverage or good representation would sign such a thing but who knows what’s going on.

I feel like many of these guys probably have an uncle or family friends dealing with the sharks. Not great. Pure speculation on my part.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

If the NIL contracts are like other service related contracts, there will be termination language that spells out when either side can end the contract.

More details here. We’ll probably never see an actual agreement from each school unless someone leaks one. I had forgotten about the Rashard Mendenhall Osama Bin Ladin thing.

Inside a Big Ten Athlete Revenue Sharing Agreement

In revenue-share MOUs, schools are asking athletes to sign away NIL rights, waive employee status, and accept performance-based terms.

www.sportico.com

 

[MGGopher]

First legal challenge on this will be approximately 2 days after spring practices start. Lawyers among us who have been following NCAA stuff: will this — and any other regulation passed — stand up in court without legislation behind it?

 

[GopherGrit]

First legal challenge on this will be approximately 2 days after spring practices start. Lawyers among us who have been following NCAA stuff: will this — and any other regulation passed — stand up in court without legislation behind it?

The NCAA has already won some rulings of players trying to challenge eligibility rules in the past couple months. (IE they were trying to get an extra year for themselves because of X,Y,Z circumstance.)

So it's not a complete free for all.

 

[GopherGrit]

I thought I had read that the Big Ten was the only (major) conference fighting against that.

IF true, to me it signals that the BT was gaining the most out of the spring portal window. They have probably some of the most money, and were picking off players from other schools who were unhappy with their standing after spring ball.


Personally, I like the change. I like the idea that you really need to give a program/school a chance for a full calendar year. No transfer in Jan, and then transfer right out again in May.

That's also bad for academics, any way you slice it. Continuity is better. You know, supposedly these are students.


Keep in mind two things:

1) no matter what, no one can be chained down to a school. Any one can leave at any time. But if you don't do it in a portal window then you aren't eligible for the next season, unless you get a waiver.

2) as far as I know, there is still a rule saying student-athletes who graduate with a degree are then allowed to transfer at any time they want with no restrictions. Ostensibly to allow them to go to a school that has a specialized graduate program that the current school does not have. (Yeah, right ... )

 

[Jack jones]

Until the NCAA rule reads that only graduate students are eligible immediately, everyone else has to sit out 1 year, we will continue with the wild,Wild West.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

I thought I had read that the Big Ten was the only (major) conference fighting against that.

IF true, to me it signals that the BT was gaining the most out of the spring portal window. They have probably some of the most money, and were picking off players from other schools who were unhappy with their standing after spring ball.


Personally, I like the change. I like the idea that you really need to give a program/school a chance for a full calendar year. No transfer in Jan, and then transfer right out again in May.

That's also bad for academics, any way you slice it. Continuity is better. You know, supposedly these are students.


Keep in mind two things:

1) no matter what, no one can be chained down to a school. Any one can leave at any time. But if you don't do it in a portal window then you aren't eligible for the next season, unless you get a waiver.

2) as far as I know, there is still a rule saying student-athletes who graduate with a degree are then allowed to transfer at any time they want with no restrictions. Ostensibly to allow them to go to a school that has a specialized graduate program that the current school does not have. (Yeah, right ... )

Xavier Lucas was at Wisconsin for 2024, transferred outside the window and is playing this year at Miami. Wisconsin is accusing Miami of tampering, with the support of the big ten. The eligibility police didn’t haul him off yet, not sure what the NCAA can/will do in this case.

We have a ton of attorneys or supposed attorneys here; somebody could probably weigh in.

The NCAA has already won some rulings of players trying to challenge eligibility rules in the past couple months. (IE they were trying to get an extra year for themselves because of X,Y,Z circumstance.)

So it's not a complete free for all.

Were these legal rulings, or NCAA? If court rulings that’s definitely news, then. The Pavia rule was a legal injunction that led to the NCAA granting a blanket JUCO extra year waiver for 2025-2026; I’d guess to avoid ‘issues’ involving a potential/likely Sherman-related court loss that throws things into further chaos. I don’t know. Players seem to have a strong hand right now, if they’re motivated.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Vandy is currently ranked, has beaten VA Tech and #11 South Carolina (by 31-7). Pavia is looking at a potential seventh year of eligibility pending court case.




But during the hearing, Pavia's attorneys went full Eduardo Saverin. Their client doesn't just want a sixth season, which is ongoing and going quite well. They also want a seventh.

https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/09/16/diego-pavia-lawsuit-seventh-season-permanent-college-football-player

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Per CBS:

College football's transfer portal season just got much shorter.

The NCAA Administrative Committee on Wednesday adopted a proposal to eliminate the spring transfer portal window, moving away from the previous two-window system that allowed players to submit their names in the portal over 30 days across the winter and spring. Changes will go into effect this season, with precise dates to be determined next month.

The key takeaway is the elimination of post-spring transfer movement, a popular option that more than 1,000 FBS players took advantage of this year.

"I desperately think one window is better," Nebraska coach Matt Rhule told CBS Sports. "Basketball has one window. So it's not like we're the first sport to do it. We're just making ourselves whole like the other sports."

Said a FBS general manager: "Having to retain your roster twice a year was ridiculous."

NCAA approves single transfer portal window: How the new rule will impact college football

Beginning this year, players will no longer be able to transfer during the spring.

www.cbssports.com

Go Gophers!!

They should get rid of the portal completely and restore the sitting out a year rule. Anarchy continues...

 

[GopherGrit]

Xavier Lucas was at Wisconsin for 2024, transferred outside the window and is playing this year at Miami. Wisconsin is accusing Miami of tampering, with the support of the big ten. The eligibility police didn’t haul him off yet, not sure what the NCAA can/will do in this case.

We have a ton of attorneys or supposed attorneys here; somebody could probably weigh in.



Were these legal rulings, or NCAA? If court rulings that’s definitely news, then. The Pavia rule was a legal injunction that led to the NCAA granting a blanket JUCO extra year waiver for 2025-2026; I’d guess to avoid ‘issues’ involving a potential/likely Sherman-related court loss that throws things into further chaos. I don’t know. Players seem to have a strong hand right now, if they’re motivated.

Bold: legal rulings. For example:

 

[GopherGrit]

Xavier Lucas was at Wisconsin for 2024, transferred outside the window and is playing this year at Miami. Wisconsin is accusing Miami of tampering, with the support of the big ten. The eligibility police didn’t haul him off yet, not sure what the NCAA can/will do in this case.

We have a ton of attorneys or supposed attorneys here; somebody could probably weigh in.



Were these legal rulings, or NCAA? If court rulings that’s definitely news, then. The Pavia rule was a legal injunction that led to the NCAA granting a blanket JUCO extra year waiver for 2025-2026; I’d guess to avoid ‘issues’ involving a potential/likely Sherman-related court loss that throws things into further chaos. I don’t know. Players seem to have a strong hand right now, if they’re motivated.

Bold: where are you getting that he transferred outside the window?

I know Wisconsin refused to put his name in the portal, because he signed a two-year NIL deal. But I don't think that in itself prevents him from transferring in accordance with NCAA rules?

The legal filings on this case are being closely followed, for sure

 

[GopherGrit]

They should get rid of the portal completely and restore the sitting out a year rule. Anarchy continues...

They would say it's his fourth and fifth years, not sixth and seventh, because they contend two years at JUCO are no more relevant to NCAA eligibility than your junior and senior year of high school.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Bold: legal rulings. For example:

That litigation is ongoing, AFAIK. I’m not certain the majority decision met the common sense rule…and the majority admitted a broader scope of focus may help him prove irreparable harm. It was a 2-1 decision, after all. The dissent lays it out fairly well. Fun to argue about.

Decision here

https://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/OpinionsWeb/processWebInputExternal.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2025/D07-16/C:25-1187:J:St__Eve:aut:T:fnOp:N:3397890:S:0

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Bold: where are you getting that he transferred outside the window?

I know Wisconsin refused to put his name in the portal, because he signed a two-year NIL deal. But I don't think that in itself prevents him from transferring in accordance with NCAA rules?

The legal filings on this case are being closely followed, for sure

Schrodinger’s portal?

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

They might as well make players employees of the school. No academic requirements. No limit on eligibility. If a player wants to work for another school and that school wants to pay him, have at it. Might as well allow changing employers (i.e. schools) during a game. The player could switch jerseys at halftime and line up on the other side of the ball. In fact, why have the teams associated with schools at all. Just create a minor league like baseball has and complete the destruction of college sports.