HIGH SCHOOLS GREG RIDDLE griddle@dallasnews.com
Transfer portal limits opportunities for recruits
Colleges saving valuable scholarships for ‘proven’ players
In a normal year, Argyle’s C.J. Rogers might have done the impossible and landed a football scholarship from an FBS school, even though he was a zero-star recruit who had never played high
school football until his junior year.
That’s how good Rogers was in 2020, his first year as a starting quarterback. But it didn’t happen, as the NCAA transfer portal — which high school coaches have quickly grown to loathe —and COVID19 got in the way of his Hail Mary.
Rogers had the most wins of any quarterback in Texas, which is saying a lot given that the state has 12 players at that position who are five star or four star recruits (the most of anystate) in the Class of 2021and 2022. The 63, 205 pound senior also threw more touchdown passes than anyone in the Dallas area, which is equally impressive considering that local quarterbacks have committed to or signed with Ohio State, LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Michigan State and Mississippi State.
But even after throwing for 3,414 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Argyle to a 160 record and the Class 4A Division I state championship —all during a global pandemic — Rogers didn’t receive a single football scholarship offer from an FBS school.
Like many standouts in the Class of 2021 who aren’t five-star or four star recruits, Rogers’ only options to continue his football career were to accept a scholarship offer from a lower-level college or pay his own way as a preferred walk on at a bigger school, so he committed to Baylor as a preferred walk on so he would at least have a roster spot.
“It’s pretty frustrating, just knowing that a bunch of other kids who I think can play at the next level maybe aren’t getting the same looks and the types of opportunities as we would have, say last year or any other normal year,” Rogers said.
Trickle-down effect
That’s because FBS teams have started saving scholarships to use on the massive number of players entering the NCAA transfer portal. The portal has become the college version of free agency, as coaches —especially those whose job might be in jeopardy—look for a quick fix to help them create a “winnow” roster.
“Coaches have already suggested in our meetings that they’re going to start recruiting out of the transfer portal, because you can get more of a proven player,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.
“There will probably be much fewer high school players being recruited by the top levels.
“High school players, in all likelihood, are going to have to go to different levels than maybe what they’ve traditionally done to start off and prove that they’re good players and then have opportunities to move up.”
Non FBS colleges are going to get more talented recruits, but high school coaches are frustrated by the lack of offers for their athletes.
“This year is the most difficult in recruiting that I have ever seen. It has affected most of the seniors in America that are not in the ESPN top 300,” Arlington Sam Houston coach Anthony Criss said.
As of Jan. 27,there had been 2,910 football players —counting both scholarship and non scholarship athletes —who entered the transfer portal this school year, according to the NCAA. That included 1,554 players at the FBS level.
“One hundred percent negative impact,” Rockwall Heath coach Mike Spradlin said. “The portal is dramatically changing the recruiting landscape.
“I have had many coaches tell us that they have held or are holding certain numbers of scholarships back to see what shows up in the portal. We have players who had DI offers, and those offers were taken off of the table after early signing day [in December].”
The regular signing period for NCAA Division I and Division II football begins Wednesday, and the list of preferred walkons includes Argyle three star wide receiver Cole Kirkpatrick going to Texas Tech, and Lovejoy 61 quarterback Ralph Rucker (47 touchdown passes) going to Oklahoma.
Lovejoy 63 wide receiver Reid Westervelt led the Dallas area with 1,809 receiving yards and had 31 touchdown catches —seventhmost in a season in state history —but didn’t receive any FBS scholarship offers and is considering preferred walk-on opportunities from Tulsa, SMU, Oklahoma State and North Texas while waiting to see if other offers come his way.
“It has created a sliding scale,” McKinney recruiting coordinator Corey Jordan said.
“Power 5 kids are landing at mid majors, FBS kids are becoming FCS sometimes, and smaller Division II kids are becoming Division III/NAIA.”
Free agency vs. development
COVID19 wiped out spring ball and summer college camps — prime opportunities for Class of 2021recruits to be seen by college coaches —and forced the NCAA to institute a recruiting dead period that started in March, now runs through April 15 and prohibits any in person recruiting and evaluations.
Rogers didn’t have game film from his junior season to fall back on because he threw only 18 passes as Argyle’s backup quarterback, so some colleges watched his basketball highlights just to assess his mobility and agility, and his only FBS opportunities were preferred walk-on offers from Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, South Florida and Louisiana Tech.
Iowa State hasn’t signed any transfers in the Class of 2021, according to 247Sports,but the other five schools on that list have already combined to sign 22 transfers.
The NCAA’s regular football signing period will run through Aug.1this year, so for those willing to wait past April 15 to sign, there might be a chance to get in front of college recruiters at some point. But that’s a big gamble, because offers that are currently in place could easily disappear.
Because of the pandemic, NCAA Division I athletes were given an additional season of eligibility and an additional year in which to complete it.
Because of that, for the 2021 football season, seniors returning for an additional year won’t count against an FBS school’s normal limit of 85 scholarships —but not every school will be able to keep additional scholarship players for financial reasons and/or because of Title IX requirements, and for now, schools can only exceed that 85 limit for one year.
“This isn’t a one year deal.
It’s really going to be a two year deal before these numbers and recruiting go back to what we would consider normal,” Lovejoy coach Chris Ross said.
The NCAA Division I Council announced in January that it is committed to adopting new rules allowing student athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness and to expanding opportunities for student athletes to compete immediately after transferring. It delayed votes on proposed legislation for both, including allowing athletes to transfer one time during their college career without having to sit out a year, but if one or both go into effect, it will have a great impact on future recruiting classes.
“With the name, image and likeness part of this, more players are going to be getting into the portal to look at different financial opportunities for themselves,” Berry said. “It’s going to be like a summer of free agency, where the majority of your players are in the portal.”
Pinkston coach Derek Lewis summed it up best when he said, “When they introduced the transfer portal, I don’t think they had any idea what kind of madness it was going to bring about in high school sports.”
Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle
Transfer numbers
The NCAA transfer portal debuted in October 2018 and has provided college coaches with an appealing alternative to recruiting primarily high school athletes. As of Jan. 27, here was the breakdown of college football players who have entered the portal, with the numbers representing both scholarship and nonscholarship players, including walk-ons.
Division III colleges did not begin using the portal until the 2019-20 school year.
school football until his junior year.
That’s how good Rogers was in 2020, his first year as a starting quarterback. But it didn’t happen, as the NCAA transfer portal — which high school coaches have quickly grown to loathe —and COVID19 got in the way of his Hail Mary.
Rogers had the most wins of any quarterback in Texas, which is saying a lot given that the state has 12 players at that position who are five star or four star recruits (the most of anystate) in the Class of 2021and 2022. The 63, 205 pound senior also threw more touchdown passes than anyone in the Dallas area, which is equally impressive considering that local quarterbacks have committed to or signed with Ohio State, LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Michigan State and Mississippi State.
But even after throwing for 3,414 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Argyle to a 160 record and the Class 4A Division I state championship —all during a global pandemic — Rogers didn’t receive a single football scholarship offer from an FBS school.
Like many standouts in the Class of 2021 who aren’t five-star or four star recruits, Rogers’ only options to continue his football career were to accept a scholarship offer from a lower-level college or pay his own way as a preferred walk on at a bigger school, so he committed to Baylor as a preferred walk on so he would at least have a roster spot.
“It’s pretty frustrating, just knowing that a bunch of other kids who I think can play at the next level maybe aren’t getting the same looks and the types of opportunities as we would have, say last year or any other normal year,” Rogers said.
Trickle-down effect
That’s because FBS teams have started saving scholarships to use on the massive number of players entering the NCAA transfer portal. The portal has become the college version of free agency, as coaches —especially those whose job might be in jeopardy—look for a quick fix to help them create a “winnow” roster.
“Coaches have already suggested in our meetings that they’re going to start recruiting out of the transfer portal, because you can get more of a proven player,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.
“There will probably be much fewer high school players being recruited by the top levels.
“High school players, in all likelihood, are going to have to go to different levels than maybe what they’ve traditionally done to start off and prove that they’re good players and then have opportunities to move up.”
Non FBS colleges are going to get more talented recruits, but high school coaches are frustrated by the lack of offers for their athletes.
“This year is the most difficult in recruiting that I have ever seen. It has affected most of the seniors in America that are not in the ESPN top 300,” Arlington Sam Houston coach Anthony Criss said.
As of Jan. 27,there had been 2,910 football players —counting both scholarship and non scholarship athletes —who entered the transfer portal this school year, according to the NCAA. That included 1,554 players at the FBS level.
“One hundred percent negative impact,” Rockwall Heath coach Mike Spradlin said. “The portal is dramatically changing the recruiting landscape.
“I have had many coaches tell us that they have held or are holding certain numbers of scholarships back to see what shows up in the portal. We have players who had DI offers, and those offers were taken off of the table after early signing day [in December].”
The regular signing period for NCAA Division I and Division II football begins Wednesday, and the list of preferred walkons includes Argyle three star wide receiver Cole Kirkpatrick going to Texas Tech, and Lovejoy 61 quarterback Ralph Rucker (47 touchdown passes) going to Oklahoma.
Lovejoy 63 wide receiver Reid Westervelt led the Dallas area with 1,809 receiving yards and had 31 touchdown catches —seventhmost in a season in state history —but didn’t receive any FBS scholarship offers and is considering preferred walk-on opportunities from Tulsa, SMU, Oklahoma State and North Texas while waiting to see if other offers come his way.
“It has created a sliding scale,” McKinney recruiting coordinator Corey Jordan said.
“Power 5 kids are landing at mid majors, FBS kids are becoming FCS sometimes, and smaller Division II kids are becoming Division III/NAIA.”
Free agency vs. development
COVID19 wiped out spring ball and summer college camps — prime opportunities for Class of 2021recruits to be seen by college coaches —and forced the NCAA to institute a recruiting dead period that started in March, now runs through April 15 and prohibits any in person recruiting and evaluations.
Rogers didn’t have game film from his junior season to fall back on because he threw only 18 passes as Argyle’s backup quarterback, so some colleges watched his basketball highlights just to assess his mobility and agility, and his only FBS opportunities were preferred walk-on offers from Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, South Florida and Louisiana Tech.
Iowa State hasn’t signed any transfers in the Class of 2021, according to 247Sports,but the other five schools on that list have already combined to sign 22 transfers.
The NCAA’s regular football signing period will run through Aug.1this year, so for those willing to wait past April 15 to sign, there might be a chance to get in front of college recruiters at some point. But that’s a big gamble, because offers that are currently in place could easily disappear.
Because of the pandemic, NCAA Division I athletes were given an additional season of eligibility and an additional year in which to complete it.
Because of that, for the 2021 football season, seniors returning for an additional year won’t count against an FBS school’s normal limit of 85 scholarships —but not every school will be able to keep additional scholarship players for financial reasons and/or because of Title IX requirements, and for now, schools can only exceed that 85 limit for one year.
“This isn’t a one year deal.
It’s really going to be a two year deal before these numbers and recruiting go back to what we would consider normal,” Lovejoy coach Chris Ross said.
The NCAA Division I Council announced in January that it is committed to adopting new rules allowing student athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness and to expanding opportunities for student athletes to compete immediately after transferring. It delayed votes on proposed legislation for both, including allowing athletes to transfer one time during their college career without having to sit out a year, but if one or both go into effect, it will have a great impact on future recruiting classes.
“With the name, image and likeness part of this, more players are going to be getting into the portal to look at different financial opportunities for themselves,” Berry said. “It’s going to be like a summer of free agency, where the majority of your players are in the portal.”
Pinkston coach Derek Lewis summed it up best when he said, “When they introduced the transfer portal, I don’t think they had any idea what kind of madness it was going to bring about in high school sports.”
Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle
Transfer numbers
The NCAA transfer portal debuted in October 2018 and has provided college coaches with an appealing alternative to recruiting primarily high school athletes. As of Jan. 27, here was the breakdown of college football players who have entered the portal, with the numbers representing both scholarship and nonscholarship players, including walk-ons.
Division III colleges did not begin using the portal until the 2019-20 school year.