The NCAA has made massive changes to collegiate sports over the last decade. From allowing players to capitalize off their name, image, and likeness, altering the transfer portal rules and switching the College Football Playoff to a 12-team format, these changes have had huge ramifications on the landscape of college football.
To Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart, there is no bigger issue in the sport right now than the transfer portal window. Currently, there are both winter and spring transfer portal windows, and the winter window interferes with the schedules of teams competing in the CFP, espcially with the longer playoff format.
"The biggest decision that has to be made in CFB right now—by far—is when is the portal window," Smart said, via ESPN's Pete Thamel. "And is there one or two."
Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula made waves last season by leaving the team before their CFP game so that he could enter the transfer portal due to the overlapping timeline. The timeline is not only difficult for those players, but also puts teams in the CFP at a disadvantage since they will be focused on their upcoming games, not adding players through the portal.
During the SEC spring meetings this week, Smart advocated for their to be one, not two, transfer portal windows. He specifically called for that window to take place in January, according to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.
Smart was met with some humorous pushback. When he mentioned that the portal interferes with the CFP, he shared that he was told, "No crying from the yacht."
Though Smart advocated for the transfer portal window to take place in January, Dellenger reported that several administrators feel that a spring portal works better with the academic calendar. Per Dellenger, Smart said that the decision will ultimately be made by the House Implementation Committee, which is made up of several athletic directors from the Power 4.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kirby Smart Names Biggest Decision 'By Far' That Needs to Be Made In CFB Right Now.
