The college football spring transfer window will not officially close Tuesday, April 30, after all. Well, at least not technically.
While the 15-day window for underclassmen will close Tuesday evening at 11:59 p.m., grad transfers will be given an extra day, through Wednesday, May 1, to enter their name into the portal, multiple sources clarified to 247Sports.
Graduate transfer rules have shifted considerably over the past week. Previously, grad transfers were not subject to the NCAA’s transfer windows. They were allowed to enter the portal at any time.
However, the NCAA made a quiet rule alteration last week, stating that graduate transfers had to enter the portal by the close of the final window for their respective sport.
But the NCAA made an exception for graduate transfers in football this cycle, among a few other sports, stating in a memo obtained by 247Sports:
“Due to the timing of the adoption of Proposal No. 2024-5, postgraduate student-athletes in football, women’s ice hockey, rife, skiing, women’s swimming and diving and indoor track and field have until May 1, 2024 to provide written notice of transfer in order to be entered into the transfer portal before the start of the 2024-25 academic year.”
Thus, graduate transfer football players have through Wednesday evening to submit their names in the portal. That means there could be players trickling into the football portal through Friday with this change as schools have a 48-hour window to submit a player’s name officially in the portal once they receive the paperwork.
There have already been a record 3,634 entries into the transfer portal by FBS players during the 2023-24 cycle, per a source.
What is the NCAA transfer portal?
The portal is an online database that players will enter their name into if they decide to pursue a transfer. Players notify their current school’s compliance office that they wish to put their name into the portal — typically, players’ names show up within 48 hours. Coaches have access to the database and can contact any player who has entered.
When will the transfer portal open?
College football has two transfer windows: one following the regular season and one following spring practice. The spring transfer portal window opens on April 16. It will remain open through April 30. Graduate transfers are allowed to enter through May 1, however. There is also an exception made for players on a team whose head coach departs. Once a head coach exits a program, a 30-day transfer window is triggered for the roster.
Is a player forced to leave his school after entering the portal?
No. In fact, players sometimes withdraw their names from the portal and end up staying with their respective programs.
Oftentimes, however, the decision to enter the portal comes with some amount of displeasure on either the player’s side or the program’s side. Most players who enter the portal do not return to their previous school, and they’re often removed from the team immediately upon entering.
