How would the new transfer portal rule impact Utah?

Per Dellenger, the NCAA Football Oversight Committee voted for a single transfer portal window to take place in January, potentially doing away with the spring transfer cycle in a significant change for the sport's offseason calendar.

Currently, college football has a 30-day transfer window starting the day after the College Football Playoff selections, followed by another 15-day transfer period between April 16-30. According to On3's Pete Nakos, the new window for student-athletes to change schools would only be 10 days long, beginning Jan. 2, 2026, one day after the College Football Playoff quarterfinals are completed.

A final vote on the change is expected to come by Oct. 1. According to ESPN, Football Bowl Subdivision coaches voted unanimously to support the January portal proposal during their American Football Coaches Association convention earlier this year, with the idea that it will give players and coaches more time to focus on finishing their season while still allowing players to change schools for the spring semester.

The spring portal has typically been viewed as the final opportunity for players to make a move before the upcoming season begins. For Utah, this past spring provided an opportunity to bring in several newcomers, including wide receivers Tobias Merriweather and Larry Simmons, as well as cornerbacks Jaylen Moson and JC Hart, among others.

Between the Utes' acquisitions in the winter and spring cycles — plus the ones who transferred out of the program — Whittingham assesses that roughly 50% of the 2025 squad features new players. Managing that roster turnover wasn't easy for him and the staff, nor was keeping track of the balance sheets, either.

"We feel like we did a good job in the portal this year and then, of course, the finances come into play as well," Whittingham said before Utah's season opener. "Portal guys are more expensive than retaining your own guys; but you can't just retain your own guys, or you'll run out of guys because they'll eventually graduate."

"Typically, high school guys are priced pretty high as well. So it's a balancing act."

Perhaps with only a single 10-day window to worry about, navigating the portal won't feel as daunting for the Utah coaching staff in the future.

The shift from 30 to 10 days for the winter portal would mark the second season in a row in which the window for players to transfer shrank by a significant margin; the NCAA Division I council moved last season's window from 45 to 30 days. Players can still commit and transfer to their next school at any time after their names have been entered into the portal.