STILLWATER – The NCAA has adjusted the transfer portal window for college football, with a couple of major changes on the way.
A one-time-only portal will now open on January 2 and only run through January 16. Players will have the 15-day window to enter the portal, but they don’t have a set deadline to commit to a school, it will just depend on when each school decides to allow admissions.
A massive change to the transfer portal is the elimination of the spring portal window. There were over 1,000 players who entered the spring portal this year. This allows teams and coaches who have put in several months of work on the roster and players won’t have to worry about drastic changes.
The rule on grad transfers has also changed, as they’ll now have to wait until the portal window opens on Jan. 2. Under the old rules, grad transfers were allowed to enter the portal at any point.
Another major difference will be the portal window following the firing or dismissal of a head coach. Right now, Oklahoma State is in a 30-day portal window following the firing of Mike Gundy on September 23. Under the new rule, players will have to wait five days after a school hires or announces a new head coach and will have only 15 days to enter.
However, players who are currently in the portal, or plan to enter the portal during their current 30-day window are being grandfathered in.
Oklahoma State would’ve benefitted from two of the rule changes. With the injuries and all the on-field turmoil, the Cowboys would most likely still have either Maealiuaki Smith or Garret Rangel, and there wouldn’t be a mass exodus of players into the portal in the middle of the year. There’s no way of knowing how beneficial things would be, and while everyone hopes the next head coach isn’t fired in the middle of the year, it’s nice to know there won’t be any drastic mid-year portal entries should the worst thing happen to OSU football.
