Another significant rule change could be on its way to the college football world.
According to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini, the Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is expected to meet for a call next Monday to discuss moving from a double portal window to a single portal window. Vannini reports that the hope is to have this change ready and in place ahead of the 2025 season.
“I’m confident we’ll get there,” committee chair and Buffalo athletic director Mark Alnutt said, per The Athletic.
As of right now, the current system features one 20-day window in December following the conclusion of the regular season and then another shorter, 10-day window in April. If the proposed change were to happen, it would likely move to one 10-day window in early January, although there is movement for it potentially being pushed back to the spring.
January makes sense on the football calendar, only interfering with a few teams still playing in the College Football Playoff, but it interferes with the academic calendar. Unless schools make changes, there isn’t enough time to transfer schools before spring semesters begin. SEC coaches are in favor of the January window, while Big Ten coaches are pushing for it to be in the spring (March, April, or even May).
A move to a single window in January would allow schools to complete the season with their full team intact while also ensuring rosters are locked in for spring practices. Notably, Kentucky lost a handful of transfers in the April portal window who had committed during December.
Players are not required to choose a new school during the portal windows, but they can only enter their names into the portal while the windows are open. That being said, there is nothing preventing a player from unenrolling at one school and enrolling at another, much like what happened earlier this year with Xavier Lucas, who left Wisconsin for Miami (FL) without officially entering the portal.
In short, the state of college football is still a bit of a mess right now, but steps are slowly being taken to sort things out. A single portal window makes the most sense at this stage, and it sounds like it’s coming sooner rather than later.
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