As if college football isn’t busy enough with basically no off-season anymore, now we have the constant rumor mill about players transferring from one place to another.
Don’t believe it’s not full-time?
Chad Morris has said it for a year in a way that was new to some people. The business of college football consists of four quarters these days. There’s recruiting, spring practice, summer workouts and, of course, the season.
Now you’ve got to squeeze in the transfer process which sorta fits in somewhere between the fourth quarter of one season and the first of the next.
And I swear there’s more rumors around the whole transfer stuff than even coaching changes.
Arkansas fans spent months hoping for Kelly Bryant when he quit on Clemson when it became evident freshman Trevor Lawrence was a better quarterback. When he chose Missouri, the lunatic fringe is now hoping and praying for anybody.
Cole Kelley has transferred to Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, basically going back home. Ty Storey has reportedly put his name into the NCAA transfer portal, which conjures up images of Stargate, Star Wars and Star Trek.
Most assume he’s gone. That may or may not be the case. Just because a player puts his name there doesn’t mean he’s leaving anywhere. It’s more a case of testing the waters to see who’s interested.
Graduate transfers are immediately eligible. Maybe the most eye-opening change lately is the NCAA’s wllingness to grant immediate eligibility to non-transfers. It’s almost enough to make you wonder if they haven’t been threatened with a lawsuit over player rights. Their track record is not good when things land in court.
Every name that hits the NCAA portal gets a chunk of the fan base excited, especially if there is even the most remote possibility the player or his high school coach ever crossed paths with Morris.
The best part is the logic some of these folks roll out. There have been wild speculation and rumors on these guys:
• Ben Hicks, SMU. He may not be an upgrade over anybody still on the roster.
• Shane Buechele, Texas. There’s no official word he’s even considering leaving although two Longhorn freshmen quarterbacks — Cameron Rising and Casey Thompson — have put their name in the transfer portal. For the record, Rising is from California and Thompson is from Newcastle, Oklahoma … and they were both four-star recruits.
• Jalen Hurts, Alabama. Really. While he has put his name in the portal, that’s going to be a recruitment for the ages. If he comes to Arkansas, Morris and his staff will leap into the upper echelon of recruiters just for that signature.
There are others, but Morris said back in December after the first signing date he was trying to get an “older” quarterback to come in. That doesn’t mean a graduate, but that’s the assumption.
So now we have two signing dates in college football. Apparently after the first signing date is when coaches start working on players that have put their name into the transfer portal.
Now fans and media get something else talk talk about.
Remember, though, as usual the people who DON’T know anything are doing all the talking while the people who DO know aren’t saying a word.
Everybody else is just guessing.
