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College football has a problem. No, it’s not an entertainment problem; in fact, college football entertainment is near an all-time high. The problem, instead, is a loyalty problem. The era of homegrown programs is dying - in fact, it’s past dying. The era of homegrown programs is dead. Just this year, according to ESPN, more than 6,700 players entered the transfer portal. That’s almost a quarter of all Division 1 FBS players.
This statistic shows a glaring problem. High school recruiting is almost pointless. The top programs in the country will go after the highest-rated recruits and fill in the rest of their rosters with experienced juniors or seniors from other programs. Now, if a mid-major lands a diamond in the rough out of high school, they will only get to enjoy his play for a year before he transfers out. These mid-majors will now become mere feeder programs for power-conference programs.
This problem will only accentuate after Indiana's national championship win. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti developed a recipe: find solid, older, experienced players. With these veterans on the field, Indiana was able to win with experience. These players weren’t the highest recruited out of high school, and they certainly aren’t the flashiest guys on the field. However, their experience, poise, and discipline won them a national championship. Other programs will follow suit. They will poach the most experienced players from smaller teams and win with them.
With NIL, these players have more of an incentive to play in college while they are being paid. Athletes no longer need to rush to the NFL Draft in order to get their first paycheck. With this change, College Football is already seeing players stay in college, leading to older players and more experienced programs.
So here is the problem. Good programs no longer have any incentive to recruit strong draft classes out of high school. Instead, they will out bid smaller programs for the players that the small programs developed. With that being said, it wouldn’t be fair to suggest that players shouldn’t get paid. These athletes work the equilivalent of a full time job on the football field on top of the classes they attend. However, there’s always a solution. The problem doesn’t lie in players getting paid; it lies with the transfer portal system.
In April of 2024, the NCAA changed its rules, allowing players to transfer multiple times without penalty. Before that, if a player wanted to transfer more than once, they would have to sit out a full season. My proposition is simple: in order to fix the poaching problem in College Football, the NCAA must revert to its old rules, forcing athletes who transfer multiple times to sit out one season. But I also have a more aggressive addition to this rule: first-time transfers should sit out the first half of the season. The only exception to these rules is if there is a coaching change. If a head coach leaves a school, the players should not be punished for wanting to leave with him.
These changes sound harsh. However, if the NCAA adopts these rules, it will promote loyalty in college football. It would reward players for helping to build their program. Because that’s truly what it comes down to. Each season, each school tries to build its brand, improve its reputation, and attract better prospects so that the program will slowly become better over time. These rule changes would give smaller programs a chance and reward them for good scouting. This way, if a school from the Sun Belt or the MAC lands a superstar, they get to enjoy the fruits of their own recruiting, without having to worry about him getting poached. Additionally, players will still be able to chase championships; they will just have to weigh the price of their disloyalty and ask themselves if a shot at a championship is worth sitting out. Regardless, these rule changes would promote a more traditional college football. It would give the little guys a chance to grow, and it would focus on the high school recruiting process.
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