Chaos is the new norm in the college football transfer portal

The transfer portal opened today and some of the biggest names in college football entered the chaotic open market.

The college football transfer portal opened on Monday, and you may be better off finding a list of players who are still on your favorite team’s roster, than trying to navigate the names in the portal.

I remember when LeBron James was making “The Decision.” I was only 11, and my NBA fandom was limited. But I also had SportsCenter on my TV every Saturday morning, as opposed to cartoons. One of the biggest free agency stories of all time and as we sit here today, nothing has come close. But today, a new player has entered the “free agency” market. College football. The circus that is college football is now hitting the same mainstream news that Shohei Ohtani and Kevin Durant are creating headlines for. 

I’m not going to sugarcoat what this is. The college football transfer portal is just a massive ungoverned flea market for the highest bidder. It’s a bidding war that has allowed the lesser Power Five schools to compete with the Alabamas of the world. And there’s no telling when it’s going to stop because there is virtually nothing in place to stop it.

An epidemic for every team

While we as Michigan State fans grow a bit more weary with every transfer portal announcement, I can provide no comfort. No band-aid can cover up the metaphorical wound of these players choosing to depart from the team that we are so passionately fans of.

Personally, I’m choosing to take a backseat approach to things because I’m starting to understand what this sport is. Look around and you’ll see that it’s happening everywhere. Not even the Oklahoma or the Ohio States of the world can escape it. It is what it is, so I’m going to dive into why that is, and what that means going forward.

Patience. Patience is the word I’m choosing to approach the Jonathan Smith era with. I think he’s a fantastic coach, and the resources are here for him to do really well. But I also think college football is nearing a product that means that recruiting graphics with piles of cash do more than the message a coach conveys to a student-athlete. This may be my “old man yells at cloud” take, but I’m not saying I have a problem with it. I just want us to all be honest about what is happening. Patience in this instance means allowing Smith time to show what he can produce on the field.  It’s not completely out of his control off the field and in recruiting, but it’s also not entirely in his control. 

A price to pay for any transfer

What I’m referencing here is what Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule mentioned to the media during his weekly press conference last week. “Make no mistake, that a good quarterback in the portal costs, you know, $1 million to $1.5 million to $2 million right now… let’s make sure we all understand what’s happening, there’s some teams that have $6 million or $7 million players playing for them.”

I don’t bring this up to say that these athletes shouldn’t be earning these checks. Frankly, I don’t care what they make, and I’m glad that while the NCAA profits off their back, they finally get a cut.

We can all question why Michigan State is losing players to the transfer portal at a high rate right now. We can all blame it on the university’s ineptitude to make the right decisions at an administrative level, or the past controversies that have done the school no help in the world of athletics. But if you look around, Michigan State isn’t the only program losing players at a high rate. And can you really blame those players, if the prices Rhule mentioned are accurate?

The harsh reality is that the roster in 2024 will look significantly different than in 2023. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ll leave that for you to decide. Just as you see offers rolling in for guys like Geno VanDeMark and Tyrell Henry, Jonathan Smith will be extending offers as well. There’s no telling if any of these players are making the right decision, but it is theirs to make. If I’m being honest, I expect this to be a trend, year-to-year from here on out. 

The other side to this is that MSU is going to have options of its own in the portal. Smith has already made that a point of emphasis. While losing players can be significant, you can just as easily replace them with another player doing the same thing.

There’s already a melting pot of talent in the portal, and I have no doubt players will commit to play in East Lansing under Smith. 

Transfer portal madness

You hear what Rhule is saying, and you open your eyes to what college football is now. It doesn’t get less surprising, but the panic button starts to fade away. On Monday, Dec. 4, the transfer portal officially opened. With that, some big fish have made themselves available through the portal. Dillon Gabriel and Kyle McCord, star quarterbacks at two of the biggest programs in college football are among the early names.

Even the No. 1 overall recruit from the 2022 class, Walter Nolen, has entered the portal. Not your typical three-star looking for a jump to a higher level, and it’s not for lack of opportunity, so why is it? 

There are virtually zero repercussions to entering the portal. It’s essentially the wild west, so I would say tread lightly. But getting feedback, and hearing what you are worth is a common business practice. To me, this is no different than a college basketball player declaring for the draft, getting feedback, and then withdrawing and coming back to school. 

To be completely honest, if this was me, or if I was a coach or advisor to an athlete, my message would simply be, “Why not.” Loyalty is hard to come by in today’s college football, and it’s OK for it not to be. At the end of the day, the NCAA is a business, so why shouldn’t it be for these players? 

Headlines and donors

Entering the portal means that you can go through the entire recruiting process again. It means you can be wined and dined by the schools who also are willing to pay a price for you. It gives players more leverage, which in return means they will probably end up making more. It gives them an opportunity to be in the headlines nearly as much as a James Harden trade rumor. 

What this has done is bring in a third player to light: donors. What’s ironic about all of this is that the NCAA opened the floodgates with the front that it was to benefit the players. I’m glad it has, but let’s not hide from the fact that nothing has changed for the NCAA. I don’t believe this is a sustainable process, but then again, many of these donors may not even care that their money won’t be seen again. They pay to feel a part of something, and in return, the universities don’t have to pay anything out of their own pocket for these players. 

Embrace the change

Sure, the college football transfer portal is an imperfect system, especially for fans. For some, it takes away from what makes college sports unique.

Schools have always been paying players, but now we all have to see it and be honest about what it is. NIL, combined with the transfer portal, has helped fuel a bidding war that is fit for an episode of Storage Wars. So don’t be too harsh on Jonathan Smith and his two-week stint at Michigan State, because if you do, the same criticism needs to be applied to Oklahoma, Ohio State, North Carolina, and Texas A&M.

No need to fret, one man’s treasure will be another man’s just as soon. That’s what free agency is, right? Buckle up, because a lot is going to change for your team before the 2024 season. But we’re going to get all of the headlines, rumors, and reports.

So party like its 2010, college football fans. Free agency is here, and if you embrace it, it may be just as fun as a LeBron James decision.