Is there no way to reign in transfers?

18IsTheMan

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Oct 1, 2014
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The numbers I just read are sobering. Roughly 60% of college football players transfer at least once. That compares to 37% of college students overall. For those who transfer at least twice, it's 34% for college football players; 11% for college students overall. TJ Finley is on the extreme end having just transferred to his 7th school.

This is obviously disastrous for college football. But that aside, it's disastrous for the player. Though the data is not in yet, it is fully expected that graduation rates will drop as the impact of unlimited transfers comes to full effect. There's no way it cannot be. Graduation rates are lower for college students overall among those who transfer at least once.

I know the reasoning behind the rule change is that a college football player should be afforded the same opportunities as non-athletes. That's absurd. Should non-athletes sue to get all the benefits and perks that athletes get? It makes no sense to say the one has to be treated exactly like the other b/c there really is no comparison. Most football and basketball players would not even be admitted into college if they weren't athletes. For that reason alone, they should not be treated the same as non-athletes.

Anyone reading the room can see this is getting worse and worse. We've picked up several transfers who will be on at least their 3rd school. I spent a lot of time in academia and I NEVER met a student who had gone to 3 undergrad schools. It's completely absurd.
 

Cackmandu

Senior
Mar 26, 2006
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I heard on a podcast today that 50% of the portal entrants had not been signed and it ended up being 32% last year! Heck of a gamble!
 
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18IsTheMan

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I heard on a podcast today that 50% of the portal entrants had no been soghed and it ended up being 32% last year! Heck of a gamble!
It's crazy.

At what point can you be allowed to make rules to protect people from themselves?

The game is now full of vultures and parasites who prey on these kids to convince them to transfer, not the least of which are the coaches.
 

Gr8spur

Joined Sep 16, 2003
Sep 16, 2003
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I think most mature adults will acknowledge that the current state of college football with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal is completely broken. It’s the Wild West! And it needs to be fixed.
 

18IsTheMan

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Oct 1, 2014
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Everyone is so desperately in love with winning and success that nobody's even pretending these guys are students anymore. The coaches are there with the worst of them. No national voices will speak out about the detrimental effects of the portal to the student athlete.

I respect the HECK out of Dabo for his stance. He finally caved and used it some, but he came out today and said they are still committed to recruiting and developing. And he gets mocked and dragged for that. That's what the heck it's freaking supposed to be about. All these coaches talk about developing character and building men being the most important thing they do. When you take a 4-time transfer, you're 100% full of it. Dabo said using the portal makes him feel like a preacher at a Vegas wedding chapel. It's legal, but it's sleezy.
 
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18IsTheMan

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As far as I can tell, Dabo Swinney is the only person left in college football who remembers what it's supposed to be about. He's at least the only one who's willing to say it.

Dabo for college football commissioner.
 

Uscg1984

All-Conference
Mar 9, 2006
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The numbers I just read are sobering. Roughly 60% of college football players transfer at least once. That compares to 37% of college students overall. For those who transfer at least twice, it's 34% for college football players; 11% for college students overall.

And of those 37% of overall college students who transfer, I'm sure the vast majority of those are probably transferring from one school within a 100 mile radius of their home to another school within a 100 mile radius. Like transferring from USC Upstate to Clemson or from Lander to South Carolina. Probably not that many transferring from SC to LSU or from Mississippi State to Michigan.
 

3USC1801

Joined Dec 10, 2020
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As far as I can tell, Dabo Swinney is the only person left in college football who remembers what it's supposed to be about. He's at least the only one who's willing to say it.

Dabo for college football commissioner.
And as much as I despise Clemson, at least Dabo understands the dramatic changes and has tried to navigate without them. However, I’m not sure how much longer he will be able to adhere to the old ways (yes, I know he’s using the portal somewhat).
 

Sleepyhead

Junior
Jul 23, 2023
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This is definitely a different world of college football. Still can’t believe it sometimes and miss the days of program building and true college football. This is the reality now though.
 
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I4CtheFuture

All-Conference
Oct 5, 2024
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The numbers I just read are sobering. Roughly 60% of college football players transfer at least once. That compares to 37% of college students overall. For those who transfer at least twice, it's 34% for college football players; 11% for college students overall. TJ Finley is on the extreme end having just transferred to his 7th school.

This is obviously disastrous for college football. But that aside, it's disastrous for the player. Though the data is not in yet, it is fully expected that graduation rates will drop as the impact of unlimited transfers comes to full effect. There's no way it cannot be. Graduation rates are lower for college students overall among those who transfer at least once.

I know the reasoning behind the rule change is that a college football player should be afforded the same opportunities as non-athletes. That's absurd. Should non-athletes sue to get all the benefits and perks that athletes get? It makes no sense to say the one has to be treated exactly like the other b/c there really is no comparison. Most football and basketball players would not even be admitted into college if they weren't athletes. For that reason alone, they should not be treated the same as non-athletes.

Anyone reading the room can see this is getting worse and worse. We've picked up several transfers who will be on at least their 3rd school. I spent a lot of time in academia and I NEVER met a student who had gone to 3 undergrad schools. It's completely absurd.
Once you understand and accept that it has nothing to do with football and EVERYTHING to do with destroying yet another "American institution" , it makes total sense. It isn't about the student athlete or about the players. It's about destroying anything American. This problem goes much, much beyond the football field and it's coming to a head.
 

3USC1801

Joined Dec 10, 2020
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Hey, it’s Chuck Berry!

Singing “Trolling Around In My Automobile . . . . “
 

18IsTheMan

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And as much as I despise Clemson, at least Dabo understands the dramatic changes and has tried to navigate without them. However, I’m not sure how much longer he will be able to adhere to the old ways (yes, I know he’s using the portal somewhat).
How quickly we went from the portal being something coaches could use to plug a few holes in the roster to being an absolute necessity if you want to have any shot whatsoever of competing.
 
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3USC1801

Joined Dec 10, 2020
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How quickly we went from the portal being something coaches could use to plug a few holes in the roster to being an absolute necessity if you want to have any shot whatsoever of competing.
So true — and it will probably get worse before any changes take place.
 

nlstanford

Joined Sep 9, 2002
Sep 9, 2002
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This is definitely a different world of college football. Still can’t believe it sometimes and miss the days of program building and true college football. This is the reality now though.
100% agree, and while it’s negatively impacted USC in some ways, the implications are far greater for smaller schools.

Take App State for example. Living in NC, I’m surrounded by Mountaineer alumni. I’m not exaggerating when I say that they don’t even know what they’re pulling for anymore. If a player has a breakout year, he’s picked up by a “bigger” program. They’ve essentially become a one year feeder program with no chance for player development. I just read where they’ve lost 39 players to the portal already this year. Something has to change.
 
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Lurker123

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May 4, 2020
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Everyone is so desperately in love with winning and success that nobody's even pretending these guys are students anymore.


II think they need to rip the bandaid off and just give up on the student idea completely.
 

Piscis

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Nov 30, 2001
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II think they need to rip the bandaid off and just give up on the student idea completely.
I think they need to go in the other direction. The arguments about NIL, transfers, etc. was always "regular students aren't restricted". Well, I say, if athletes want to be treated like regular students with regards to transfers, NIL, etc., they need to be treated like regular students in admissions, academic support, housing, food service, access to facilities and everything else.

If athletes had to gain admittance to the schools through regular admission channels and requirements without any accommodation because they are athletes, I would be fine with them having the exact same rules as other students regarding income, transfers and everything else.
 

gamecock stock

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Take it to Court and make the Courts uphold prior decisions. Courts do reverse themselves. Hire the best lawyers out there and do it. Right now, the word that best describes college sports is "chaos".
 

OldSoldier

Redshirt
Sep 19, 2023
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One thing killed for sure for me was the excitement surrounding bowl games. I used to enjoy watching as many as I could but this year watched only the playoff games.
 

Harvard Gamecock

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Take it to Court and make the Courts uphold prior decisions. Courts do reverse themselves. Hire the best lawyers out there and do it. Right now, the word that best describes college sports is "chaos".
The flaw with this theory is what individual and or group is going to file the lawsuit, and then proving any negative impacts or damages that have been incurred in a court of law
 

gamecock stock

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The flaw with this theory is what individual and or group is going to file the lawsuit, and then proving any negative impacts or damages that have been incurred in a court of law
If not, people then need to stop complaining and just accept the game as it is, chaos and all.
 

PrestonyteParrot

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May 28, 2024
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II think they need to rip the bandaid off and just give up on the student idea completely.
If that happens, they become employes with contracts and laws to follow with meaningful consequences if we return to a real world ''blind justice'' system. Right now, we are in a make-believe world created by a bunch of money-grubbing manipulators with partisan justice on their side.
 

gamecock stock

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The bowl games would go away if not for the fact that businesses in the locales would holler. If they can make a dollar on them, they want them to continue. Anyone who spends money to attend such meaningless games, well. you know what P.T. Barnum and Forrest Gump said.