For sophomore Peter Revenaugh, college football isn’t just a game — it’s a heartbeat, a tradition, and a fierce loyalty that binds fans to their alma mater for life.
But since its introduction in 2018, the college football transfer portal threatens to upend player and fan loyalty alike.
For Division I student-athletes in 2021, there were nearly 10,000 portal transfers. In 2023, that number increased 75% to over 13,000. The transfer portal allows student-athletes to declare their intent to transfer by adding their name to an online database, which schools must update within two business days. Once listed, athletes can be contacted by other schools for recruitment. A new rule also lets athletes transfer during a 30-day window after the regular season, enabling earlier and multiple transfers per year without sitting out a season.
Revenaugh, a self-described college athletics fan, said the benefits of these new rules largely depend on an athlete’s ability to transfer, influenced by factors such as their team status, the availability of alternative schools and the demand for their skills.
“It gives players the opportunity to try and grow their brand at other schools that might have a competitive advantage compared to the school they are currently at,” Revenaugh said. “At the same time, students who might be walk-ons or are less covered in the media might be hurt by these new regulations.”
Already, head football coach David DeGeronimo said the loosening of transfer regulations has significantly changed the landscape of recruiting, with fewer high school student-athletes being recruited, and only 6% moving from high school to the NCAA.
“When the season ends, many of the coaches save scholarships for (transfers) because they’re already experienced and have starting positions for other schools,” DeGeronimo said. “They don’t recruit high school players as much as they used to.”
Additionally, college football has grown in popularity with ESPN seeing a 58% increase in its viewership last year, creating a platform for student-athletes to easily promote their brand through social media, interviews and game coverage. In particular, the rise of name, image and likeness deals, which grant student-athletes the “right of publicity” and allow them to monetize their brand, has contributed to the spike in college transfers seen recently.
As such, DeGeronimo said the transfer portal gives players the opportunity to explore other programs that may offer them better opportunities for media coverage, viewership or playing time.
“The benefit is all at the college level, it allows players to go to a program if their current one is maybe not a fit or they want to extend their career,” DeGeronimo said. “You see this a lot in the quarterback position where they play, and then another quarterback comes in and beats them out, but they’re still a pretty good quarterback, so they can now go to another school and start when they lost their job at a previous school.”
However, senior Joe Kessler, who will play football at Claremont Mckenna College, said he thinks fans watching frequent transfers may question the players.
“If you transfer once, OK fine, but if a player transfers three to four times, at that point, it’s not the program, it’s the player,” Kessler said “I see guys who transfer often as guys who can’t be coached.”
DeGeronimo said increased student freedom comes with new challenges around financing the NIL deals of the most valuable athletes.
“The power may be too much in the player’s hands, (which) really can frustrate coaches or affect programs,” DeGeronimo said. “Not every school has the same amount of NIL money, and not every school has NIL money, so those schools are at a very big disadvantage to keep the best and get the best players.”
DeGeronimo also said entering into the transfer portal offers players a way out if unhappy, but is a risk.
“If players don’t get the money they expect, or they want to get a better deal, then they can hit the transfer portal,” DeGeronimo said. “It’s like there’s always this aspect of them marketing their skills there and basically going where there’s more money, which is typically a better program. People often don’t understand if you decide to hit the portal, you might have to give some of that money back or all of it.”
However, DeGeronimo said the portal has benefited many players with the opportunities it offers student-athletes who are unhappy with their current program.
“It gives them the flexibility to move around and not be tied to one school,” DeGeronimo said. “Whether they don’t like it because it’s too far from home, or it wasn’t what they thought it was going to be or the team is not performing well, they have the opportunity to go wherever they want. It’s like quitting a job and going to a better job.”
DeGeronimo said others need to look positively at this change rather than hyper-fixate on the problems it has caused.
“As a coach, you want to maintain continuity in your team, have team chemistry and have players that buy into your philosophy,” DeGeronimo said. “While the transfer portal has become a challenge to navigate as a coach, it’s not necessarily a bad thing because if you can attract the kids that buy into your program, then you can keep them there.”