Juggling the College Football Playoff and the transfer portal is awkward, bizarre and hectic

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Justin Williams was more than just a five-star prospect. He was the fifth-ranked recruit in the entire country last year when he signed with Georgia, which at most programs would mean immediate playing time, maybe starting, at least a key role.

Williams, a linebacker, has hardly played. So he was asked Monday if he had heard from other programs about transferring, maybe some funny business through back channels. Williams smiled and looked away, choosing his words carefully.

“Um … I would just say … I don’t know. That’s what I’ll say, I don’t know,” he said, offering a knowing smile.

Williams didn’t enter the transfer portal — he knew playing time would be scant right away — but teammate Nitro Tuggle did. Or at least the freshman receiver, a four-star recruit last year, announced that he would this month, only to change his mind.

“It was kind of awkward because I didn’t want to put myself in front of the team,” Tuggle said Monday.

Awkward is one word to describe it. Bizarre is another word Georgia wide receivers coach James Coley threw out.

“It’s a new age conversation that 10 years ago would be like crazy to even be talking about,” Coley said. “But in today’s time, we’re talking about it.”

Georgia, like the other seven teams left in the College Football Playoff, has spent this month navigating the wild dynamic created by the college football calendar. Focusing both on meaningful games and what comes next. One foot in this season, another foot in the next one.

The transfer portal closed Monday for teams not in the Playoff but will remain open for five days after each team’s final game. In years past, coaches and players essentially tried to pretend, at least publicly, it wasn’t a distraction. Now that it has set in as reality, everyone just seems to acknowledge how wild it is and tries to handle it as best they can.

For players, it means deciding whether they want to remain on the team. Seven players from this year’s Georgia team entered the portal, five already finding new teams, the other two not with the team in New Orleans. For coaches, it means talking to their players about leaving or staying, and scouting and recruiting players in the portal. All the while, they’re planning for a Playoff game.

“So it’s hectic, so you have to be really organized,” Coley said. “It’s stressful, you know, you can be short-tempered around the offense a little bit because you’re trying to accomplish multiple tasks.”

Of course, payments via name, image and likeness figure in. But coaches and players don’t like to talk about that. In Georgia’s case, the departures all appear related to playing time: Cornerback Julian Humphrey was the only starter who has left, and he had been benched the week before deciding to leave.

Tuggle has appeared in only seven games, the highlight being two catches for 25 yards in the win over Tennessee. That initially appeared to be a coming-out performance, but he doesn’t have any catches since then and decided after the SEC Championship Game to enter the portal. He met with his coaches, told them how he felt and told the media.

A few days later, he changed his mind.

“I don’t really want to get into too much detail about what happened,” Tuggle said. “But (head coach Kirby) Smart believed in me. And coach Coley believed in me.”

Tuggle cited conversations with David Hill, whose title with the program is “player connection coordinator.” Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was involved, in a general effort to make Tuggle, a 6-foot-1 native of Goshen, Ind., know that he had a good future with the program.

“I stayed because of that,” Tuggle said. “They showed me they wanted me to be here.”

Williams indicated that no such conversations were necessary. Georgia has talented veterans ahead of him — Jalon Walker, Raylen Wilson, Smael Mondon, CJ Allen — but only Walker and Mondon are expected to turn pro after the season. Georgia also has freshman Chris Cole, another five-star in last year’s class.

But Williams, a native of Oak Ridge, Texas, says he knew all this going in.

“Yeah, it’s been OK because that’s the thing I signed up for,” Williams said. “You know, development was the whole thought process, and that’s why I came here. And just, I just wanted to see what it was like to learn from the vets, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m happy about it.”

Williams cited the message that Smart has for potential stars who are sitting and possibly passing up better NIL deals at other schools: You can make it up on the back end, especially if you’re drafted high in the NFL.

“The greater picture is not what you get when you first get there, it’s what you are as you’re leaving,” Williams said. “Because, you know, NFL scouts, they don’t look at your freshman year stuff like that. They look at senior year, junior year.”

Holding on to players like Tuggle and Williams is becoming even more important for Georgia, which has yet to add any transfers this cycle. It’s not for a lack of trying, especially at receiver. But the uncertainty at quarterback may be affecting potential additions, who want to see how Gunner Stockton does as the new quarterback. And, of course, NIL and other factors could be involved.

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These are all things on the plates of the assistant coaches.

“When you’re on the outside and you’re looking in, it could seem super bizarre,” Coley said. “When you’re on the inside, and you meet with your players and you have one one-on-one conversations: ‘What are you planning on doing? I understand you want to do more. What could you do to do more?’ Like, it’s all about like their plan to get better. If it’s a situation where you know they don’t want to be here, you have to be open as a coach to say: ‘Hey, look, this person doesn’t want to be here, they have the right to transfer. Don’t overthink the situation.’”

Then there’s the other part of it: hosting potential transfers. Georgia brought in Kentucky’s Dane Key, who decided to go to Nebraska, and has brought in others. That can be awkward for current players, but Coley said it can be solved by open and honest communication.

“I’m sure there’s organizations out there that’ll bring in a transfer and hide it from the organization, right?” Coley said. “That’s really weird.”

Ultimately for everyone involved, this is a business. So whenever Georgia is done playing there could be more departures. There could be additions. Everyone has to try to do what they think is in their best interests. In that way, however, Georgia’s trip to New Orleans is a respite from that. It’s a reminder that even in this business involving individual goals, there are still team goals, and a championship is very much still possible.

“Leaving on an unfinished note and try to go do it somewhere else. It’s like a whole start off with a process,” Williams said. “So I’m really just happy to be here and happy to enjoy this time with my brothers and just looking for being better.”

(Top photo of Nitro Tuggle, right: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)

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