re: Article about the logjam in the transfer portal and it's effect on the 2022 class

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a ton of “grass is greener” kids are about to transfer themselves out of football.

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Exactly. The grass may be greener, but you still have to mow that shite.

Que?

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No I don’t feel for those that enter the portal. The high school players definitely didn’t ask for these issues though.

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I think this whole thing is overstated. Pre-COVID, you had:
- 85-man scholarship limit
- 25 per year cap
- 5 years eligibility to play 4 seasons

The math is easy - in the “worst case” scenario where all players stay 5 years, you would have potentially 125 scholarship players on the roster. That’s 40 over the limit. Clearly, that doesn’t happen. If everyone stayed for 4 years, you would have 100 scholarship players. That’s still 15 over the limit. So clearly, that doesn’t happen either.

The 85 scholarship limit means that for a school that takes 25 initial counters each year, the average player stays for 3.4 years. Or, put another way - the average player receives 3.4 years of scholarship assistance.

Early entry into the NFL draft is basically a rounding error when you look at all 130 FBS teams. (2019 was a record year with 135 early entrants - basically one per team.) So if every player has 4-5 years of eligibility, why does the average player only stay 3.4 years? A few examples I can think of are injuries, players dismissed from teams, graduation/moving on, and perhaps most importantly - players getting processed to make room for incoming recruits. This happens EVERY year.

Which brings me to my point. The additional year of eligibility was granted because the NCAA decided they should give players the opportunity to play their 4 years at a time when they didn’t really know if there would even be a college football season at the time. But they still made progress toward their degrees. The NFL will still draft 253 players next year. Guys will still move on from football.

This while idea of players getting screwed out of scholarships is being driven by coaches who think they can gain a competitive advantage if they can return a bunch of 5th- and 6th-year seniors. Sounds to me like those coaches have a choice to make: either manage your roster like you do every year, or go for broke in 2022 while knowing you might be screwing yourself in the long run.

Either way, the average player will still receive 3.4 years of scholarship assistance. Just like they do now.

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Either way, the average player will still receive 3.4 years of scholarship assistance. Just like they do now.

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No way. The average length of stay will definitely go up across the board. You are just focusing on the cream at the top. Most colleges aren’t LSU and Bama.

And I am not just talking about football.

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Logjammin'

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You can only imagine what happens next...

OSU quit on Burrow. You are confused.

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Bottom line is these kids owe us nothing.

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Correct. And they are owed nothing, except a year-to-year scholarship.

Any elite player that transfers without an offer in hand is a fool.

I think for the next few years, they should establish something like a practice or JV squad. Find a sweet number the majority likes, and make it where these extra players coming in goes there. They only can move up in the season if injury/opt out/transfers open a spot. You can never go back down after being up. This would allow transfers to come in and play, but freshmen to get the practice time without losing a year of eligibility. I know it sounds like a redshirt, so maybe it's as simple as allowing more redshirts.

Edit: Obviously let the team decide if the player comes in can make an immediate impact on roster or needs the year time.

You can parse this all you want, but IMO when a player graduates, he has fulfilled his obligation to the school, and vice versa.