College Football is amid arguably the biggest changing period in its history. The College Football Playoff is expanding, NIL deals are allowing players to make millions, and the transfer portal has brought free agency to the sport. Things will need to get tweaked as these new avenues are explored, but I believe all of these new rules are for the better. College players deserve to be paid, more teams in the playoffs will not be a negative thing, and who doesn’t love free agency!?
Yesterday, the transfer portal officially opened up, and after just 24 hours, chaos ensued. Teams across the country have watched over 1,000 players enter the portal, leaving some programs wondering what’s next. According to SEC Mike, here’s the breakdown of players from each SEC team entering the portal.
My unofficial count of SEC players to hit the transfer portal during the first day (so far), broken down by team⤵️
Florida 15
Texas A&M 15
Arkansas 13
Alabama 12
Ole Miss 9
Missouri 9
Kentucky 8
Auburn 6
Vandy 6
Mississippi State 5
Tennessee 5
South Carolina 3
LSU 2
Georgia 0 https://t.co/G6MNyt3vIf— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) December 6, 2022
There are a few things I’m taking away from this list. First and foremost, Florida and Texas A&M could have major problems on their hands. They already severely underachieved in 2022, and the outlook won’t look much better for 2023 with so many players electing to leave the program. We’ll see how each of their coaches is able to respond, but if I were to bet on a coach to get fired during the SEC next season, it would be Jimbo Fisher or Billy Napier.
Alabama also has a lot of talent entering the transfer portal, but for obvious reasons, I’m not nearly as worried about their program. Nick Saban has an incredible recruiting class coming in, and I’m sure he’ll be active in bringing in more players through the transfer portal. The Crimson Tide will also likely have plenty of guys leaving the program every year because not everyone is guaranteed playing time in Tuscaloosa.
Some other things that stick out are programs on the lower end of the spectrum of players entering the portal. Even with a new coach coming in, Auburn has only had six players open up their recruitment. Meanwhile, the coaching impacts of Josh Heupel, Shane Beamer, and Brian Kelly cannot be understated. Combined, those three programs only have had 10 players enter the transfer portal. Georgia is sitting at zero, but that will change once they’re eliminated from the College Football Playoff or win the National Championship.
Of course, this is far from the final total of players that will enter the portal. We’re only through one day, and the door doesn’t shut until January 19th, so this next month-and-a-half will be an exciting time for all College Football fans.
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Photo: John Korduner/Icon Sportswire
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