Hey 👋 this is a new edition of my newsletter where I talk about coaching, recruiting, kicking and more for 5 minutes or less that leaves you 10,000+ other minutes this week to crush it.
“Everything means nothing, Brendan. We just don’t know what to think anymore.”
This was a dad I’d known for years. His son had already been through the transfer portal rigamarole once, and now, after going 100% on kicks last season was being pushed out by a new staff with their own kicker.
“What they hell else are you supposed to do? You cannot be better than 100%”
For all the nice decals in multi 100 million dollar athletic facilities that spray “Team!” or “Family!” on the walls, the way college football commoditizes its players is downright inhumane at times.
Due to the ambiguous nature of college football team development, it’s really hard to get a clear, black and white answer from coaches too on where you stand. Coaches want to maximize and maintain as many options as they can for as long as they can. Even if this might go against what is best for you as a player.
“Well, we really like you. We think you could be a guy for us. We just need to see a few more things. Who knows what might happen with the portal, you never know! But we think you have potential, but you just need to show a few more things. If you want to transfer we get it, but we’d love to have you too, but it’s your call.”
This kind of “coach double talk” looks more like something you’d hear while reading Catch-22 than you should hear from a coach.
While the portal has made players more transient and it easier than ever to leave schools - especially now with the NCAA allowing multiple undergraduate transfers without the need to sit out - little has been written about the portal’s impact on how college coaches treat players.
The Division I Council…unanimously adopted a package of rules changes to allow transferring student-athletes who meet certain academic eligibility requirements to be immediately eligible at their new school, regardless of whether they transferred previously. - NCAA
Coaches could always cut players, that’s never changed. But, their ability to plug the gap with a more talented player in a timely manner was never there. If you cut your nose guard who disappointed in spring ball after not panning out, where the heck else could you find a 6’9 310lbs proven player?
Now, it’s easy. You just go in the portal and start shopping.
And, while the portal has “windows” where coaches can overtly speak with transfers who are in it, there are ways easily around these windows that are impossible to police. You can leverage the player’s high school coach or trainer as your own conduit for communication with these players.
More interesting, recently, are request for ambiguous “pre-portal” lists of players who might be entering the portal. Teams want to get the jump on new names in the portal before they’re in the portal itself. A lot, if not all, of these offers that occur within 24 hours of a player entering the portal seem like they were in the works for days and weeks prior.
Player mobility isn’t a bad thing, but one of its unintended consequences has been a rise in the commodification of how college coaching staffs approach player development too. It’s a win-now business, even in the FCS. And, not every coaching staff can afford to sink 2-3 years into a player to see if they pan out anymore.
Coaches can’t force a player to transfer, but they can push a player out.
They bury you on the depth chart.
They bring in their kicker from a previous staff.
They reduce your reps to near nonexistent levels.
To even sweeten the deal, a coaching staff can now fulfill a player’s promised four year scholarship with NIL money to encourage the transfer - the college football version of a “buy out”.
So, what can one ultimately do if you’re a parent or player about to get into or already in this college football landscape?
For the top 2% of kicking talent where the NFL is on the horizon or you might make some significant NIL money, it’s every kicker for themselves - if you have an opportunity to go play at a bigger program, it’s hard to say no.
For the 98% rest of us mere mortals, yes, play the sport you love, leverage it to get into a great school, but realize ultimately the real ROI of football isn’t football, it’s the life lessons and memories the game gives you. And, the ultimate ROI of college isn’t football, it’s the degree, the network and the opportunities you create for yourself.
A degree will always be more timeless than the portal.
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