New transfer rules will create ‘free agency’ in college football. Is Kentucky ready?
Vince Marrow has some advice for any college football players seeking a change of scenery as the NCAA prepares to relax its rules regarding first-time transfers: Be 100 percent sure.
“I’m gonna be honest, if my son was a college football player right now, and he put his butt in that transfer portal, he better have a place to go,” Marrow said during a news conference Tuesday. “ ... Some of these guys are just jumping in that thing just off emotion. They may not (have) played, they ain’t figured things out and they just think, ‘Hey, I’m gonna have a scholarship waiting for me somewhere else.’ You gotta realize those scholarships are already taken up for the year. Some schools might not even have them until that next year of eligibility is up or when the (next) football season is over.”
The University of Kentucky’s recruiting coordinator, and its acting offensive coordinator for this weekend’s appearance in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, over the last couple years has gotten familiar with the NCAA’s transfer portal, a somewhat behind-the-scenes software through which coaches in all sports can identify players seeking new homes. Recruiting website 247Sports maintains a running list of players in the portal, which includes information about their profile coming out of high school, the school they’re transferring from and, ultimately, the school at which they land, if it is an FBS or FCS school.
One need not look long to figure out that not every transfer is going to find a home more prestigious, or even in the same ballpark, as their former home. A look at last year’s portal information shows that of 122 quarterbacks who entered the portal, 33 (or 27 percent) did not land with a Division I university. Some of them were former walk-ons, like Kentucky’s Kolbe Langhi, who joined Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. Others were former four-star prospects, like West Virginia University’s Jack Allison, who ended up at West Liberty, a Division II program about 90 minutes west of Morgantown. And that’s just the guys who throw passes.
The NCAA in January is expected to adopt legislation that would grant an immediate eligibility waiver to all first-time transfers, no questions asked. Marrow likened the result of that forthcoming change to the NFL’s free-agency period. Those teams have college scouts as well as pro personnel directors who scout other NFL teams’ players throughout the season.
“It’s kind of like that with us now,” Marrow said. “We’ve got to deal with the high school stuff but now, let’s be honest, you gotta look at other rosters to pluck guys off. You say, OK, this guy’s going in the transfer portal, and you’ve got a guy who played a year or two years. That’s like getting a junior-college guy who doesn’t have to sit out. It’s a new world and we’re gonna have to adjust to it. It’s definitely gonna take college recruiting to another level.”
Why players transfer, and why they end up where they do, mostly boils down to individual preferences regarding location, playing time and what have you. But it stands to reason, based on how many players enter the portal, that some might not come out of it satisfied. With the NCAA’s expected changes, the portal is likely to be more jam-packed than ever in the years to come.
The portal benefits both parties, of course, if navigated with caution, and UK has purposefully left scholarships open for possible additions in the coming months. It’s not new ground for the Cats: they added backup quarterback Joey Gatewood, a former top-50 prospect out of high school, to its roster via transfer last season and signed Georgia Tech’s Justice Dingle as part of its most recent signing class to add some needed experience to its linebacking unit going into 2021. Xavier Peters, a star transfer from Florida State for whom UK had to fight to get eligibility ahead of the 2019 season, ended up on the other side of the equation; he did not find his footing in Lexington and transferred to a junior college before the 2020 campaign.
Kentucky had nine scholarship players transfer following the 2019 season; one of them, Tra Wilkins, ended up at Independence Community College while the other, Shawnkel Knight-Goff, does not appear to be on a roster anywhere. One player, former four-star recruit M.J Devonshire, entered the portal and already found a home at Pittsburgh. More could follow; attrition is common in college football, and its role in roster management is poised to only swell in the coming years.
Players eyeing greener pastures — those whom UK might chase and any whom the Wildcats may need to keep in the fold — should make sure they have keys to a tractor on the table before hopping over the fence.
“If I was giving somebody advice, I’d say you better make sure you have something in your hand before you go into that portal,” Marrow said. “’Cause now you’re going in it and you told your team you were leaving and that team has a right not to renew your scholarship. So, my advice, you better make sure you got something.”
Gator Bowl
Kentucky vs. N.C. State
When: Noon Saturday
Where: TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla.
Records: UK 4-6; N.C. State 8-3
Series: Tied 1-1
Last meeting: UK won 27-2 on Oct. 31, 1970, in Lexington
TV: ESPN
