Analyzing Georgia's approach to Spring portal window, why adding a QB is an option

The Spring Transfer Portal window is set to open on Monday. With that, the Georgia Bulldogs and head coach Kirby Smart are getting ready to make some noise in the portal and possibly even add a quarterback to the roster.

 Jake Rowe from DawgsHQ appeared on Andy Staples On3. There, he analyzed Georgia’s approach to the Spring portal window and got into the challenges that Smart is going to need to navigate.

“I can honestly tell you I’ve not heard of one guy, not one specific guy, that you would have to be worried about that with.” Jake Rowe said. “But that’s what we’re dealing with now. That’s where you’re at. It’s one of those situations where law of averages. You call it what you want. Just kind of leading the dove. Whatever you gotta say here. It’s one of those things where do I know of anything specific on the horizon? No. Is it likely to happen? Yeah.”

The Spring Transfer Portal window opens on Monday, April 15th. This window is a 15-day window, which is shorter than the window that opens following the regular season. Still, there is bound to be plenty of movement across college football as players are coming out of Spring practice.

“There is likely something to happen there and it’s just because that’s the way it is. You look in the two windows, almost everybody is gonna lose somebody they don’t want to lose. That’s the way this goes now and I don’t even call it tampering. I just don’t know if there’s a better word for it. It’s what has to happen.”

Rowe explained that Kirby Smart knows that tampering is a reality of the Transfer Portal. That means that most coaches are already aware of who they want from the portal and who might be leaving.

“Kirby mentioned it during bowl interviews or something like that. He said, ‘In my experience, guys don’t transfer unless they know where they’re going.’ So, it’s kind of one of those deals that everybody has to kind of figure it out and get a head start on it. So, with all of that going on, the whole negotiation process starts taking place before the portal window even opens. Then, ultimately, you can think you’ve got a guy back in the fold, five, six, seven, a dozen times. Next thing you know, he’s showing up in your office saying that somebody gave him a better deal,” Rowe said.

“It’s the Wild West. On the one hand, I can understand how I’m not built for it and I would say, ‘To hell with this and I’m done.’ And kind of throw my hands up and just let the guy go. That’s one of the reasons I’m not making a lot of money doing this, though, because these guys, they keep at it. They’re really competitive.”

To this point in the 2024 cycle, Georgia has had 22 players transfer out of the program while seven players have come into the program. That’s left the Bulldogs with the 68th-ranked Transfer Portal class, according to the 2024 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings.

Georgia could add a QB from the Transfer Portal

At this point, Georgia is still likely to be active in the Transfer Portal. As Jake Row explained, the Bulldogs will likely be looking for a quarterback to get to four on the roster.

“I expect Georgia to be active trying to add. We were having a discussion on the Georgia show the other day and Rusty [Mansell] made the comment, ‘Hey, if a quarterback goes in that they feel can help them, we fully expect Georgia to be in the Transfer Portal market.’ We’ve said that for months. I definitely think the odds are high that Georgia is gonna add a quarterback because they like having four quarterbacks in that room, if they can find a guy they like enough and is willing to come,” Rowe said.

“But you can say that about every position since Kirby Smart’s been at Georgia. They’ve gone out and gotten grad transfers before we had the one-time transfer rule to help them right away. Did it with Maurice Smith and Jay Hayes from Notre Dame. They’ve done it since the portal has opened and I expect Georgia to be in the market for quarterback, maybe D-Line, in this 15-day window. They’re gonna be at it.”

Another problem for Georgia that Rowe noted is the team is currently at 88 scholarship players with more incoming freshmen on their way to campus. FBS programs are limited to 85 scholarships. So, if only to get under that number, players will need to leave.

“And listen, Georgia’s gotta lose some guys to the portal because once the rest of this 2024 class shows up, I think they’re at 88 scholarships. So, they’ve gotta chew some down anyway and if they want, add some more via the portal, they’ve gotta lose even more than that.”