Since the end of last season’s disappointing 5-7 campaign, Kyle Whittingham and his Utah football staff have been busy acquiring experienced talent to round out their roster ahead of the 2025 season.
Based on a recent report from The Athletic, though, the Utes might not have both the spring and winter months to reel in big-time transfers moving forward.
Following final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, college football’s leaders have swiftly turned their attention to their No. 1 rule change on their minds for next season: move to a single transfer portal window.
According to Chris Vannini, the Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is expected to have a deep discussion on the topic during a call next Monday. Many coaches have voiced their displeasure over the two-window system, particularly when it comes to players arriving to campus late for spring ball, making it harder to assimilate to their new surroundings before the season starts.
Vannini reports that a transfer cycle in January has gained the “most momentum,” though the timing still hasn’t reached a consensus yet. Some power conference schools, for example, whose academic calendars run on a quarter system prefer the spring because their classes start earlier in January before the portal closes.
There’s also the College Football Playoff to consider. The 2025 National Championship game was on Jan. 20; the American Football Coaches Association around that same time proposed the new window run Jan. 2-12 beginning in 2026. The existing transfer rules allow players an extra five days to enter the portal if their season runs long. Time will tell if that guideline needs an adjustment as well.
The college football transfer portal hasn’t gone through significant change since late 2023, when a series of lawsuits and court rulings forced the NCAA to allow student-athletes an unlimited amount of transfers without penalty. The NCAA has altered the duration of the transfer portal from 60 to 45, to now 30 days, over the past few years.
Switching to a 10-day window would be drastic, though there’s still skepticism over whether the length/timing really matters. Implementing a transfer window only restricts when a player can enter the portal, but it doesn’t force them to pick a new school by a certain date.
Per Vannini, the oversight committee is also discussing changing spring football around the new window. Similar to NFL OTA practices, six non-padded practices would be added onto a team’s current slate of 15 practices, with flexibility to spread the 21 workouts over two different periods from January to June.
Utah’s 21-player incoming transfer portal class, ranked No. 37 in the country by 247Sports, is headlined by former New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier, running back Wayshawn Parker from Washington State and Utah State transfer cornerback Blake Cotton.
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