The NCAA, the governing body for college football, dropped a major announcement on Thursday regarding the transfer portal. Per On3 Sports Pete Nakos, a multi-time transfer will now earn eligibility for the 2024 season without a waiver, barring they transfer this fall or winter.
Under the old rules, college football players who transferred multiple times needed to receive a waiver to avoid sitting out a year. However, graduate transfers operated under a different set of rules.
NCAA Memo Outlines New Multi-Transfer Rule
The memo distributed to schools on Thursday stated, “as long as the undergraduate student-athlete transfers to another Division I institution during the 2023-24 academic year, the student-athlete will not be subject to Bylaw 14.5.5.1 during the 2024-25 academic year.”
The bylaw in question references the need for a second-time transfer to receive a participation waiver. The West Virginia Mountaineers filed a lawsuit against the NCAA after men’s basketball guard RaeQuan Battle was denied immediate eligibility after having his waiver denied. The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA’s transfer rule regarding two-time transfers violated antitrust law and “unjustifiably restrains the ability of these college athletes to engage in the market for their labor as NCAA Division I college athletes.”
College Football Transfer Portal: Loaded with Talent
Per Axios, 8,699 NCAA football players entered the transfer portal between August 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023. The transfer portal has been in overdrive the past month, with the conclusion of the college football regular season. Despite posting monster numbers at their previous school, some of the sports’ brightest stars have entered the transfer portal over the last month.
For example, Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Florida Gators edge rusher Princely Umanmielen, and Washington State Cougars gunslinger Cam Ward entered the portal. Gabriel led the Sooners to a double-digit winning season this year, throwing 30 touchdowns to six picks, but will play for the Oregon Ducks next fall. Meanwhile, Umanmielen registered 11.5 TFLs for the Gators, and Ward totaled 33 touchdowns for the Cougars.
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