The transfer portal and particularly the transfer portal window has been a major point of conversation in college football in recent years. That was particularly the case this season when the fall transfer portal window coincided with teams playing in the College Football Playoffs.
Tennessee football particularly dealt with the ramifications of the overlap when seven players, including two rotational players, entered the transfer portal before the Vols faced off with Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
But the transfer calendar may potentially change moving forward. According to reporting from Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger, the American Football Coaches Association unanimously voted to move the opening of the transfer portal from Jan. 2 to Jan. 12, following the end of bowl season. They also voted to eliminate the spring transfer portal window for everyone but graduate transfers.
Currently, the transfer portal is open in the fall window from Dec. 9 to Dec. 28. Players on teams that are in bowl games or playoffs games following Dec. 28 have a five-day window to enter the portal following the conclusion of their season.
Dellenger’s reporting didn’t indicate how the change would affect that rule, but it likely remain in place so that players on the two teams in the National Championship could still enter the portal.
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Just because the AFCA voted for the rule change doesn’t mean it will go into affect. It now goes before Football Oversight Committee to decide whether the change will be approved. The Football Oversight Committee is made up of athletic directors and university chancellors.
There are some issues that the late portal window would create too. Almost every fall football transfer enrolls at their new school for the start of the spring semester in January so they can go through spring practice.
The Jan. 2 to Jan. 12 window would significantly shorten the timeline for transfers to take visits and make decisions about where they will transfer so they can enroll in the spring semester.
That isn’t an issue for Tennessee who has a January mini term and doesn’t begin the spring semester Jan. 21. However, most schools begin the spring semester earlier than Tennessee. That makes it more unlikely that academic administrators would approve the rule change despite football people liking it.
Tennessee football lost 14 scholarship players to the transfer portal during December while adding a pair of transfers to this point.
