The Transfer Portal Stat No One Is Talking About

The transfer portal is a double-edged sword for college athletics. We’re seeing just how hard it cuts for some players who prematurely jump ship.

Beginning ahead of the 2021 season, college athletes were granted the ability for a free, one-time transfer, allowing them to move to another school without being forced to sit on the sideline for a season. Eventually, the NCAA lost a lawsuit, allowing players an unlimited number of transfers without penalty.

The rule change was praised by many who argued for years that if coaches can leave for another job at any time, why can’t players leave for another school at any time?

It was an immediate success story for the Kentucky football program. The Wildcats won ten games thanks in large part to a pair of star transfers. Wan’Dale Robinson returned to his old Kentucky home and shattered Air Raid records while catching passes from Will Levis, who would eventually become the highest UK quarterback taken in the NFL Draft since Tim Couch.

We all remember those names. How about Vito Tisdale and Michael Drennen? They were former four-star recruits who were a part of the 10-win Kentucky football in 2021. They each left the program via the transfer portal.

It took a while for Drennen to find a new home. He was not on a college football roster in 2022, but eventually landed at Toledo. He had seven carries in 2023, did not play last fall, but is on the roster that will head to Kroger Field to open the 2025 season. Tisdale was told by the UK coaching staff to hit the transfer portal after multiple violations of team rules. He spent a season at Colorado, then transferred back to Kentucky to play at EKU.

Their stories are more common than transfer portal success stories. Pat Forde did some digging and found a pair of sad and shocking statistics.

“A 2024 study by AD Advisors and Timark Partners concluded that 65% of D-I basketball portal entrants moved down at least one competitive level or did not find a new home…

“This isn’t just a basketball phenomenon, though. It is a football reality as well. AD Advisors found that 60% of FBS transfers move down a level as well. For every Jared Verse, who went from FCS Albany to Florida State to the first round of the NFL draft, there is more than one Jaden Rashada, whose path has gone from commitments to Miami and Florida to suiting up at Arizona State and Georgia to his current home, FCS Sacramento State (after having attended three high schools).”

Two-thirds of all players who enter the transfer portal will move down a level or not find a new school at all.

That required big font because ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!

This is not to demonize players who go portaling. Your first decision isn’t always the correct one. The point of Forde’s deep dive into the subject was to address the pervasive transfer portal culture that’s trickled down from college into the high school ranks. AJ Storr will play at Ole Miss this fall, his eighth school in eight states over the last eight years.

Storr is an extreme example, however, the reason why they say, “The grass isn’t always greener,” is because it’s true.