The spring college football transfer portal yielded six important lessons.
The spring transfer portal window for college football, also known as the firehose, is about to close. It was a lot to keep up with, and it opened on April 16 and closes on Tuesday. Players can still commit after the deadline, but that is the last day to enter. Numerous NIL cash was dispersed, and hundreds of players accessed the portal, but what precisely transpired? Anything worth mentioning?
Before the spring portal window opened, one of the most fascinating plots to watch was how two annual contenders would handle coaching changes in January. Both Jim Harbaugh’s NFL departure and Nick Saban’s retirement occurred late in the winter transfer window. Although this gave players from Alabama and Michigan more time to log onto the portal, it also limited the opportunities for the teams’ new coaches, Sherrone Moore and Kalen DeBoer, to make any additions.
This spring, that opportunity presented itself, but not much transpired. In February, Michigan safety Keon Sabb and Washington tight end Josh Cuevas committed to Alabama, and in March, we learned that Kadyn Proctor, an offensive tackle who transferred from Alabama to Iowa in January, intended to return to Tuscaloosa following the spring semester. Apart from that, though, the teams have only collaborated on one action: 2023 Lou Groza Award winner and Miami (Ohio) kicker Graham Nicholson committed to Alabama through the portal.
Michigan has not taken any action as of yet. All Moore and the Wolverines have added are offensive guard Josh Priebe from Northwestern and linebacker Jaishawn Barham from Maryland, who committed for the winter. It’s a little unexpected because Michigan is incredibly inexperienced on the offensive line, where the only players who saw more than 165 snaps in the previous season are returning tackle Myles Hinton and Priebe, and at quarterback, where J.J. McCarthy is no longer with the team and Alex Orji has only attempted one career pass.
The O-line pipeline in Michigan still looks incredibly sturdy. It also gives the Wolverines the option to start a full lineup of juniors and seniors. Even so, it was somewhat unexpected that Moore and DeBoer were making do with what they had. On the other hand,
“When you start talking about the portal, I wish you guys would do a little more research and realize how much we’re losing. “What are we losing?” In the middle of April, after a spate of Colorado players had accessed the transfer portal, Deion Sanders questioned during a press conference. Sanders hinted that the majority of the departing players—such as Dylan Edwards, the star of last year’s much-publicized upset of TCU, and Cormani McClain, the five-star prospect and top-ranked CU signee of the previous season—were not going to be starters and that CU would soon be hosting visits from prospective transfer starters.
Sanders made mistakes but also had good points. This transfer window, he has undoubtedly added some players who can start, like big-time Pitt defensive end Dayon Hayes, the No. 3 pick.
“When you guys start talking, I wish you would do a little more homework.” Two blue-chippers for the O-line are guard Tyler Johnson (Houston) and incoming five-star freshman Jordan Seaton. Texas transfer Payton Kirkland is athletic and bulky at 370 pounds, and former UTEP guard Justin Mayers was an All-CUSA selection. Together with Hayes, CU’s defense now includes players who were both blue-chip recruits (Quency Wiggins, defensive end for LSU, and edge rusher Keaten Wade, edge rusher for Kentucky) and proven playmakers (BJ Green II, Arizona State; 13 TFLs, 6 sacks; Rayyan Buell, Ohio; Pitt; Samuel Okunlola; 7.5 TFLs, 11 run stops; Charlotte; Nikhai Hill-Green, linebacker; and Jaylen
Colorado has about 20 former blue-chip recruits, which is a larger number than the Buffs had about 14 players in the previous season. More should be expected, particularly in terms of defense. However, depth might be every bit as awful as it was in 2023, and a lot will depend on how forgiving the injury bug is to Coach Prime and his depth chart in 2024.
