Transfer Portal Presents Many Challenges For College Football Coaches

Recruiting is a year round deal for college football coaches.
Now it must feel even longer with the addition of the transfer portal.
The early December signing period is now in progress, but how many kids will actually finish at the school they sign with thanks to the portal.

Said Mocs head coach Rusty Wright:”I saw a stat today. Forty percent of the high school guys you sign don’t finish with you, which is staggering. Absolutely staggering when it’s all said and done.”
Take Tennessee, the Vols had six defensive backs hit the portal after the season.
Said Vols head coach Josh Heupel:”The hardest thing in today’s landscape is the uncertainty of the numbers. That can be with your entire roster or with a position group. Because of the portal the recruitment of these guys. I’m talking about the fact that kids will still be going into the portal here into January. You’re constantly evaluating your roster. Where you’re at. What are the needs that you have.”
Said Georgia head coach Kirby Smart:”The portal is a good thing. Let’s not make it a negative. If you’ve been in a program for three years, and you’re not playing, and you don’t feel like you are going to play. You don’t feel like you are getting developed. And it doesn’t look great, you might need to look somewhere else. And that’s an okay thing. Okay. It’s when you’re in your first year, and you’re doing that, it becomes a little bit more alarming. Why did you go there in the first place, if you never really gave it a chance to grow.”
And it seems the transfer portal hasn’t reached it’s crescendo yet either.
Said Wright:”I didn’t think there would be as many kids in the portal this year, as there were last year, and there’s more. There’s a lot more. There’s going to be a lot more that don’t have places to go unfortunately.”
And that means more work for the coaches.
Said Wright:”The biggest thing is the number of phone calls you make. The number of text messages you make on trying to find out about them.”
The portal has done a number on one position in particular.
Said Heupel:”I think quarterback is one of the positions that you look across the country, and it’s hard to have the depth at that position that you historically may have had.”