Urban Meyer calls college football transfer portal numbers 'residual damage'

With nearly two decades of collegiate head coaching experience under his belt, Urban Meyer understands the positives and negatives of sports agents. Still, in the day-and-age of NIL and the NCAA Transfer Portal, where there are non-accredited “agents” influencing student-athletes’ decision-making, the former Florida and Ohio State coach shed light on the potential pitfalls of the current free-wheeling format.

During this week’s episode of The Triple Option podcast with host Rob Stone and former Alabama running back Mark Ingram, Meyer decried the “residual damage” done to the more than 1,600 college football players who entered the portal since the end of the 2024 season. Specifically, those that have yet to find a new home.

Stone cited numbers from the On3 College Football Transfer Portal wire, which shows more than 4,000 that entered during the recent Winter and Spring portal windows, with just under 2,400 (less than 60%) having committed to new homes. That includes nearly 110 players who entered only to eventually withdraw from the portal.

“You know an agent’s responsibility is to inflate the market, and the only way the agent gets paid is if there’s movement or if that player signs something. The established agents, the guys that have been around awhile, to me, those are the guys I think: ‘Man, what a great guy. They are really putting this player first, because they can.’

“And then, like with all walks of life, you have agents out there just trying to break in like, ‘I’m going to tell Mark Ingram I’ll get him more money somewhere (else)’ and he has no idea what he’s talking about,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “You said almost 1,700 players (in the portal)? That’s called residual damage to a situation, and I’m anxious to see (what happens with them.) To me, that’s heartbreaking, because I hope someone – the media – follows up with some of those players as much as they follow up with the Will Howards that have incredible stories after a transfer, or Dillon Gabriel. But what about the 1,700 players that were told, I’d imagine – because I don’t think when you’re that age you have the (knowledge base to make a sound decision).”

Of course, as Meyer himself pointed out, while entering the NCAA Transfer Portal remains a significant gamble for most college athletes, the advent of the system has created the opportunity for others to achieve incredible accomplishments. Had they not entered the portal, they might not have otherwise had those chances before the portal existed.