<\/p>\n
By: Chad Wilson – Owner – GridironStuds.com<\/strong> Freedom of movement.\u00a0 That’s the buzz line for the current generation of “workers” in this day in age.\u00a0 We all want a life devoid of restrictions.\u00a0 Basically we all just want to do what we want to do when we want to do it.\u00a0 So when the NCAA created the transfer portal it appeared to be an outstanding idea that fell right in line with the philosophy I discussed in my opening sentence.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 freedom comes with it’s responsibilities and it’s consequences.<\/p>\n Let’s start off with some numbers shall we:<\/p>\n A note about these numbers,\u00a0 they change everyday with the number of those who have entered into the portal being the fastest growing one. The public at large was clamoring for this system whereby youngsters who are between the ages of (18-22) make these important choices affecting their careers and future lives as adults.\u00a0 I guess it sounded good but is it really?<\/p>\n Has anyone really paid attention to the process of a high school athlete choosing the school he will pledge to on National Signing Day?\u00a0 I don’t think it would be harsh for me to say that it is “tainted”.\u00a0 Perhaps those who were so greatly in favor of this system come from a background where there is adequate guidance provided for young adults. Perhaps some of those in favor of this system are seeking to profit from a system in which a good portion of the decision makers lack adequate guidance.\u00a0 Whatever the case may be,\u00a0 the jury is out on the transfer portal and with the numbers of those diving into the portal’s murky waters escalating,\u00a0 it may be time to consider dropping a little chlorine in the waters.<\/p>\n If you follow me on Twitter (@GridironStuds) then you know I was not all that much in favor of a free moving system for college athletes.\u00a0 I had a reason for this.\u00a0 Having coached and run a college football recruiting website for well over a decade,\u00a0 I have come in contact with at least 100 athletes who have wanted to transfer from their college football program.\u00a0 I would say that perhaps 10% of them have had what I would determine to be “legitimate” reasons for leaving.\u00a0 For the greater majority,\u00a0 they simply encountered what us adults (you know those of us with spouses, kids and jobs) would call adversity.\u00a0 My advice to that larger part of the group has been to stick it out,\u00a0 work on your conflict resolution skills and most of all,\u00a0 take a good, long, hard look at yourself.\u00a0 I am happy to say that many have heeded the advice and stayed with their university with positive results.\u00a0 Some of have ignored that advice and made out ok but many more suffered as a result with several transferring a second time.<\/p>\n Transferring is adult business.\u00a0 It involves very serious considerations.\u00a0 One of those serious considerations is “honest” self reflection and assessment.\u00a0 That skill is rarely ever developed in your early 20’s and literally non-existent in your teens.\u00a0 Young people in those age groups have an idealistic view of the world and often an unrealistic view of themselves.\u00a0 Ironically,\u00a0 the skill gets more developed as you face and overcome more adversity.\u00a0 So essentially,\u00a0 we have a system set up where a crawling baby is told to run before they have spent anytime walking.\u00a0 Holy broken leg!<\/p>\n Many times the athletes themselves are the problem.\u00a0 They are still developing mentally and socially.\u00a0 They are still working on their personal skills.\u00a0 These skills that they are lacking put them at odds with their coaches and leads to their unhappiness.\u00a0 Rather than identifying these shortcomings and working to improve them,\u00a0 they hit the portal looking for a new group of coaches that will “put up” with them.\u00a0 Maybe if I go from a Power 5 school to a Group of 5 school who needs me,\u00a0 they won’t mind that I fall asleep in meetings, skip workouts, fail to show energy in practice,\u00a0 don’t know my assignments, don’t talk to people in the building, smoke weed, don’t attend tutor sessions or go to class only once a week.\u00a0 The thought is that I was a star in high school so this smaller school should be lucky to have me no matter what I do.\u00a0 When they unpack their bag of problems in their new digs,\u00a0 the problems they face start to seem all too familiar.\u00a0 Guess what guys,\u00a0 Group of 5, Division II and III schools all want to win too.<\/p>\n What’s even crazier,\u00a0 in my experience,\u00a0 is that some of the athletes wishing to transfer have nothing to sell to a new school.\u00a0 They mistakingly believe that they can drop their high school resume off as a major feature.\u00a0 Some even think they can do this when they are two years removed from the prep gridiron. They want to transfer without having taken the field for their current school and having much of nothing to show by way of practice film.\u00a0 Even when you try to slide down a level in college football,\u00a0 please know that Group of 5 schools want Power 5 type players.\u00a0 For a new program,\u00a0 taking in a transfer involves risk.\u00a0 When there is risk,\u00a0 there has to be adequate reward.\u00a0 When an athlete is presenting himself as a transfer because he couldn’t move up the depth chart or stay out of trouble at his current school,\u00a0 how will you convince them that there is a reward?\u00a0 You think your “Junior Szn Beast Mode Highlights” on Hudl is going to convince a college coach that you are ready to step in and play right now?\u00a0 You have only three years of eligibility left to your name.\u00a0 Here’s a cold dash of water in your face,\u00a0 you better wake up.<\/p>\n What has become even more troubling with the advent of the transfer portal is the inconsistency in issuing waivers by the NCAA.\u00a0 Over the last year,\u00a0 I think we have all become confused over what factors determine whether or not an athlete will be granted the right to play right away if he is even able to find another school willing to take him in.\u00a0 More and more,\u00a0 programs are accepting transfers based on whether or not their waiver has a strong chance of getting approved.\u00a0 Guess when the players start looking into their chances of getting a waiver approved?\u00a0 You got it,\u00a0 once they enter the portal.<\/p>\n So here’s the final kicker in this whole portal business.\u00a0 An overwhelming majority of the programs won’t take a kid back once he puts himself in the portal.\u00a0 For the programs, it’s like taking back a spouse that was found on tape with a hooker and they weren’t at church.<\/p>\n So let me paint a picture for you.\u00a0 Many of the athletes entering into the portal are going to fail to find a new home.\u00a0 Many of them will come home and not continue their college football career.\u00a0 Worse yet,\u00a0 they will fail to obtain their degree.\u00a0 All that training, all that hard work,\u00a0 all that dreaming for nothing.\u00a0 Would it have been that bad to stay where you are,\u00a0 buy into the program,\u00a0 punch adversity in the face and prevail.\u00a0 Ok so the athlete didn’t start as a sophomore.\u00a0 What if he worked hard and dominated in his 5th year as a senior?\u00a0 You think if he’s NFL worthy,\u00a0 the league will say no he took too long?\u00a0 Highly unlikely.<\/p>\n The transfer portal makes it all too easy now to hop around.\u00a0 It also makes it all too easy to make mistakes.\u00a0 Many of these athletes think they are sticking it to the coaches when they ask to go in the portal.\u00a0 Hey my man,\u00a0 they are already at XYZ High working on securing a commitment from your replacement.\u00a0 Perhaps a little attention span in that freshman Economics 101 class would’ve yielded a basic knowledge of supply and demand.\u00a0 There is an over abundant supply of football players which decreases the demand for your individual services. To expand on that,\u00a0 the portal is swelling up. There are more athletes than spots available (at least spots better than then one they are currently in).\u00a0 This means the athlete can and will get replaced.\u00a0 Long before the player arrived at the school,\u00a0 the program existed.\u00a0 Long after the player leaves,\u00a0 the program will exist.\u00a0 They’ll move on but will you?\u00a0 That answer is not so clear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Chad Wilson – Owner – GridironStuds.com Twitter: @GridironStuds Freedom of movement.\u00a0 That’s the buzz line for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":3747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n