Aside from the NIL discussion, the hottest topic around college sports is without a doubt the transfer portal, especially as it opens up for football and women’s volleyball. In December, a judge ruled in favor of student-athletes, allowing players who transfer twice to return to play, in a 14-day temporary restraining order filed against the NCAA.

Transferring has always been acknowledged in college sports, but it had never been so polarizing up until the past several years. NCAA rules had previously allowed more than one transfer, and on its website, it says, “But some transfers could incur penalties. Especially if you’re transferring to a four-year college for a second time.”

The transfer portal is controversial, especially as programs utilize it similarly to free agency in professional sports or the transfer window in European football. If a school misses out on a five-star recruit, they can potentially just recruit them again if that player decides to enter the transfer portal.

Where NIL factors into all this is that schools can use their NIL partners to try and persuade players. Schools cannot directly pay athletes, but with bigger schools come more opportunities to make money.

And to be quite honest, I don’t have an issue with this. Sure, it stinks as a fan for somebody to come for a year and then immediately transfer, and while we can assume that it’s because of money and NIL deals, we don’t truly know why players might transfer.

However, as somebody who transferred schools myself for various reasons, I love the fact that players have power and it’s been far too long in the making. For a long time, the NCAA refused to allow players to make money off their name, image and likeness, which is despicable when considering the amount of money student-athletes make for the school.

If the school doesn’t want to treat a student-athlete as an employee, I have no issue with players taking things into their own hands and doing what they feel is best for them. No matter what, a person should do what they feel is best for them, even if it is just for money.

I’ll understand the argument that some make — players transfer to “run from the grind” or they aren’t willing to fight for their spot. However, that’s not always the case and I’d like to believe it’s rarely the case. Many players who transfer seem to be players who struggled during their season and needed a change of scenery.

A recent example is Dillon Gabriel, who transferred from UCF to Oklahoma in 2022 following a season-ending injury. The left-handed quarterback thrived with the Sooners before announcing his return to the transfer portal following this past season. Gabriel announced his transfer to Oregon, who will likely lose Bo Nix to the NFL draft.

The quarterback transfer portal is maybe the most sought-after. In fact, Illinois has played four different quarterbacks since 2022, and all of them were transfers. Tommy DeVito transferred from Syracuse, John Paddock from Ball State, Artur Sitkowski from Rutgers and next year’s likely starter, sophomore Luke Altmyer.

As people look to complain about players going from school to school because it’s “all about the money” — think about how much your program has benefited from it. Who knows where the Illini would be without the transfer portal, especially in men’s and women’s basketball, considering arguably the best player on each team is from the portal.

@arrosen76

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