re: “Star” players in portal for NIL leverage….

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You can play when you're in the portal technically. It's just a place where it says other coaching staffs can contact you, thats it.

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This may be splitting hairs, but technically entering the portal is formal notification to your school of intent to transfer. That formal notification of intent also releases the player’s current school from their scholarship obligations for the next academic term.

I don’t believe there’s anything on the NCAA side preventing a player in the portal from playing. However, I’m not aware of any instances yet where a staff has allowed a player in the portal to continue practicing/playing with the team. They’re basically off the team unless or until they decide to withdraw from the portal. No coach wants to deal with that distraction in practice, much less in games.

I’d like to think most coaches will continue to treat it the same way. Even with the new windows, the players have until mid-January to enter the portal. Pretty shitty if a guy with any intention of staying can’t wait until after the bowl game.

That being said, we are in uncharted waters with the portal windows and NIL so I guess anything could happen.