The transfer portal is hurting my son's chances of playing on the college level.

[Bamabuzzard]

This is baseball-related, but the main talking point applies to football as well. My son will be a senior this year and has a shot at playing some college baseball. The problem is that everyone he's talking to is basically telling him (and the other HS prospects) that they are first going to see what's in the portal, then offer HS kids after that. He attended an evaluation camp two weeks ago, where there were 90 kids in attendance. Of the 90 kids, only four were HS prospects; the rest were prospects in the transfer portal. If transferring weren't so easy, then the colleges would be forced to pay more attention to these HS kids, rather than putting them on the back burner as leftovers. Just another example of how college athletics has gone off the rails.

 

[bamadwain]

I said when this transfer started it would hurt high school kids as well as kids who play at lower division schools, I was told by many that if they can't play they don't need to be there! Wrong! I hope your son can play somewhere, but as long as athletes can leave anytime they want,this what it'll be

 

[Bama Lee]

Yeah, many D1 colleges pretty much stopped recruiting high school players. Plus the court ruling on JUCO forces more players to that level. We had several kids in 2024 that had d1 scholarships that got pulled and ended up going juco or div 2 or 3. Baseball had changed a ton in last few years. Starting with Covid, the transfer portal, and then the juco ruling Has completed altered the landscape.

 

[Valley View]

You are correct about the state of college athletics. The players are in charge. Unfortunately, they do not have the education, experience, or moral courage to do what's right for the whole. It's all about them. I can see the point of view of the players, but if you burn down the house, then no one wins.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Yeah, many D1 colleges pretty much stopped recruiting high school players. Plus the court ruling on JUCO forces more players to that level. We had several kids in 2024 that had d1 scholarships that got pulled and ended up going juco or div 2 or 3. Baseball had changed a ton in last few years. Starting with Covid, the transfer portal, and then the juco ruling Has completed altered the landscape.

Yep, a kid on my son's high school team had a D-1 scholarship going into his senior year this past season only to have it pulled because the coach brought in transfers and took his scholarship away.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

If they would simply change the unlimited transfers to "one time only", it would force the kids to give a LOT more thought to their decision...to the benefit of all of these other players.

 

[JDCrimson]

This happened to Jack Sanderson, Wimp Sanderson's grandson. He had committed to Auburn for over a year and 3 weeks before it was time for him to report they pulled his offer. He had to regroup and sign with Shelton State.

 

[Bodhisattva]

This is baseball-related, but the main talking point applies to football as well. My son will be a senior this year and has a shot at playing some college baseball. The problem is that everyone he's talking to is basically telling him (and the other HS prospects) that they are first going to see what's in the portal, then offer HS kids after that. He attended an evaluation camp two weeks ago, where there were 90 kids in attendance. Of the 90 kids, only four were HS prospects; the rest were prospects in the transfer portal. If transferring weren't so easy, then the colleges would be forced to pay more attention to these HS kids, rather than putting them on the back burner as leftovers. Just another example of how college athletics has gone off the rails.

That stinks @Bamabuzzard. I hope it works out for your son.

Yeah, many D1 colleges pretty much stopped recruiting high school players. Plus the court ruling on JUCO forces more players to that level. We had several kids in 2024 that had d1 scholarships that got pulled and ended up going juco or div 2 or 3. Baseball had changed a ton in last few years. Starting with Covid, the transfer portal, and then the juco ruling Has completed altered the landscape.

I was going to suggest going the juco route, which was a common way for my HS classmates to get to play baseball early in one's college career and use it as a path to a D1 program. What is the juco ruling that has changed this?

 

[Bamabuzzard]

That stinks @Bamabuzzard. I hope it works out for your son.



I was going to suggest going the juco route, which was a common way for my HS classmates to get to play baseball early in one's college career and use it as a path to a D1 program. What is the juco ruling that has changed this?

JUCO years do not count against one's years at a D-1 school if I'm remembering correctly.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I'm sorry for your son and you, Buzz.

This is just one of the many unintended consequences of allowing college players in any sport to transfer without limitation because, you know, regular students can do that, so why can't athletes?

The truly elite HS prospects will get D-1 offers. But in football, there are only 35 or so 5*s and another 275 or so upper-level 4*s. I don't know how the numbers work in baseball, but I'm guessing they're even tighter because there are fewer players on a baseball team.

And even for the elite prospects, there's no guarantee of college success. Not many have college careers that live up to the HS hype.

Suppose you're a college coach whose livelihood (and the livelihood of his staff) depends on getting good players. You have a choice of a good HS prospect vs. someone from the portal who has actually shown what he can do at the college level. And if the HS prospect does well in college, there's always the chance he'll leave you. Prudent risk management dictates that you go with the less risky choice -- the guy in the portal.

And yeah, it really does hurt the significant majority of HS prospects. Why the talking heads aren't screaming about that, I don't know. Why they aren't screaming about the players who enter the portal and either don't find a landing spot, or the spot they do find isn't of the caliber of the program that they left, I don't know either.

Yet another example of not thinking through a situation and listening to talking heads' knee-jerk hot takes.

 

[colbysullivan]

I was wrong. College football isn’t dead. College athletics as a whole is.

 

[rolltide_21]

Happening in football, too. My wife's first cousin just signed a football scholarship to Millsaps College. On his official visits to larger schools (several D-2 and one 1-AA), they told him in the past that they would have offered and signed him no problem, but with the transfer portal, all they could offer him now was a preferred walk-on spot. At least they were upfront about it and didn't withdraw the scholarship at the last minute. One postive, I suppose, is that D-3 schools now have the resources to offer "athletic scholarships." Before, they didnt offer athletic scholarships. I could've signed (football) with a couple of D-3 schools in the early 2000s. They were clear that they couldn't officially offer a football scholarship, and my offer was an "academic" one. They now have some type of collective that allows them to offer athletic scholarships, unless the rules regarding D-3 schools offering scholarships have changed, which I'm not aware of at present.

Millsaps also told him he could use the portal to his advantage. Their spiel was, "Come here, get some film, and maybe level up. At the worst, you get to play here for 4 years and get an education. Or, you could get to the next level." Interesting approach, but appropriate in the modern context.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Happening in football, too. My wife's first cousin just signed a football scholarship to Millsaps College. On his official visits to larger schools (several D-2 and one 1-AA), they told him in the past that they would have offered and signed him no problem, but with the transfer portal, all they could offer him now was a preferred walk-on spot. At least they were upfront about it and didn't withdraw the scholarship at the last minute. One postive, I suppose, is that D-3 schools now have the resources to offer "athletic scholarships." Before, they didnt offer athletic scholarships. I could've signed (football) with a couple of D-3 schools in the early 2000s. They were clear that they couldn't officially offer a football scholarship, and my offer was an "academic" one. They now have some type of collective that allows them to offer athletic scholarships, unless the rules regarding D-3 schools offering scholarships have changed, which I'm not aware of at present.

Millsaps also told him he could use the portal to his advantage. Their spiel was, "Come here, get some film, and maybe level up. At the worst, you get to play here for 4 years and get an education. Or, you could get to the next level." Interesting approach, but appropriate in the modern context.

Yeah, this is what's being told to my son as well. If it weren't for the portal, he would have long had a scholarship offer. But, with baseball, there are so few scholarships and now with the portal, they're being eaten up by the transfers. Vert frustrating.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I was a walk-on at Alabama for XC/track, and I'm pretty sure in the new landscape, there's no way I would get the same opportunity at Alabama or other D1 schools that are strong in XC/track. Washington State is moving to a distance-runner focused squad, but most other programs will eventually only consider elite marks when handing out a scholarship. Elite in this case would mean close to or reaching Olympic-level marks. It'll be a tough row to hoe for the late-bloomers.

 

[Bama Lee]

That stinks @Bamabuzzard. I hope it works out for your son.



I was going to suggest going the juco route, which was a common way for my HS classmates to get to play baseball early in one's college career and use it as a path to a D1 program. What is the juco ruling that has changed this?

The Diego Pavia Ruling. It basically allows student college playing time at the JUCO level not to count. Students time at JUCO did not count against the six years to play four years for normal student athletes. It has basically become a training league for division 1 sports.

 

[Bodhisattva]

The Diego Pavia Ruling. It basically allows student college playing time at the JUCO level not to count. Students time at JUCO did not count against the six years to play four years for normal student athletes. It has basically become a training league for division 1 sports.

Ah, I remember that now.

 

[Toddrn]

Even though it's just weeks away, I just can't get excited about college football.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Even though it's just weeks away, I just can't get excited about college football.

right there with you. I will not even be in town for week 1. It will be my mom's birthday and that is more important to me than the mess that is today's college football.

 

[OakMtn4Bama]

right there with you. I will not even be in town for week 1. It will be my mom's birthday and that is more important to me than the mess that is today's college football.

I concur that your Mom's birthday party is much more important than any game. Happy Birthday to Mom!

 

[CaliforniaTide]

Even though it's just weeks away, I just can't get excited about college football.

I'm at that point too. I'll be excited when the first game rolls around the day-of, but anything leading up to it, I couldn't care less. I think it's more that my family is the priority (I have 2 littles) than the NIL-related stuff. I don't even care about the other teams Alabama faces, or the rivals. I only have enough bandwidth for the sports teams I support, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.