Portal Season is here. Are you ready?
The NCAA database of players intending to transfer, affectionately known as the transfer portal, was created in 2018. But in 2021, the NCAA regulations changed to allow
players to transfer without being required to sit out a full season.
In that same timeframe, Name, Image and Likeness was passed into law in California in 2019, followed by other states. In the summer of 2021, the NCAA adopted changes to its rules, allowing amateur athletes to earn money.
These two forces combined in 2021 to create an absolute beast that was unleashed, and nobody is sure if that beast can ever be contained. Year after year, the transfer portal is a step crazier than it was the year before. This year is likely to be no different. It is the wild, wild west and portal season is just getting started.
While this has been a seismic shift to how programs and coaching staff’s manage their rosters, some have fared better than others. And I believe that PJ Fleck has navigated these tricky waters as well as anybody.
Every year, when the regular season finishes, teams have to re-recruit their entire roster. Are players coming back? How much are we going to have to pay them? Are other programs going to try and poach our best players?
And for the most part, I would give Fleck a very high grade at retaining his own players. There are a few examples of great players leaving for more money or for a chance to compete for a national championship. Bucky Irvin left for Oregon, Phillip Daniels left for Ohio State and now Koi Perich is leaving for a destination yet unknown. But beyond those names, Fleck touts his developmental football program and he retains his players and tries to develop them.
The pending Perich transfer is tone that is tougher to take. Out of high school, he remained loyal to Fleck, even when elite programs came calling. He had an outstanding freshman season and never wavered about coming back. He had a solid sophomore season and played in the team’s bowl game, giving everyone hope he was returning for his junior season. But the lure of money and the lure of playing in the college football playoff was too much this time around.
On the one hand, you cannot fault him. It hurts a little more because he is, “one of us.” But Perich has earned the right to explore the market. This is the nature of the system today. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him take his talents to Miami and play for Corey Heatherman, but he gets to choose this path.
Beyond Perich, the Gophers did not lose many of their returning contributors. Blake has been tracking the portal moves here, but the biggest losses would Fame Ijeboi and Zaquan Bryan. And neither of them would have been expected to start next year.
The portal takes and yet, the portal still gives. Campus visits and commitments have begun. And I’m here for it. Particularly with the loss of Perich, this opens up more resources to provide help at other key positions. Visits are happening, commitments have been made and the next couple of weeks are going to be fast and furious.
A young and highly regarded offensive tackle from Tennessee has committed. A local kid who went to Nevada is on campus. A young corner from Michigan State is on campus. A backup running back and a backup quarterback have committed. Like I said…fast and furious.
Buckle your seat belts.
