Grad transfer deadline pushed back for college football

The NCAA transfer portal will officially close on Tuesday for college football.

Just not for every player. According to a memo distributed by conference offices last week from the NCAA, graduate transfers will have until Wednesday, May 1 to file paperwork to compliance offices. This means grad transfers could enter the portal as late as Friday since institutions have 48 hours to submit athletes’ names.

The change in direction stems from the NCAA’s changes to transfer legislation earlier this month that stated graduate transfers will now need to enter the portal before their respective sport’s final transfer windows. The initial thought was grad transfers would need to file paperwork by the end of the day on April 30 to enter the portal, similar to underclassmen.

This extension gives athletes another day, according to the memo obtained by On3. The news was first reported by 247 Sports.

“Due to the timing of the adoption of Proposal No. 2024-5, postgraduate student-athletes in football, women’s ice hockey, rife, skiing, women’s swimming and diving and indoor track and field have until May 1, 2024, to provide written notice of transfer in order to be entered into the transfer portal before the start of the 2024-25 academic year,” the memo states.

As of Monday at 1:30 p.m. ET, 3,615 FBS players have entered their names into the portal during the 2023-24 academic year. The recent changes to the transfer legislation allow all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately as long as they meet specific academic requirements. Previously, if an underclassman wished to transfer a second time, the athlete needed the NCAA to grant a waiver to compete immediately. Absent an approved waiver, the athlete had to sit out a year. 

All of these changes to the NCAA’s transfer rules stem from the preliminary injunction the NCAA agreed to in the Northern District of West Virginia District Court in December. The U.S. Department of Justice signed on to the lawsuit in January, along with Minnesota, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia.