Assessing Georgia's transfer portal situation after adding Trevor Etienne

The NCAA transfer portal can drastically alter rosters over the course of even a single year, with departure and additions rapidly changing things. Georgia is one program that has had quite a bit of turnover via the portal already.

The Bulldogs have mostly been winners in this year’s winter cycle, adding a number of top targets. They’ve lost some players, too, but the net result appears to be a positive.

“It’s funny because I was trying to figure out the transfer portal winners like three weeks in,” On3’s Pete Nakos said on the Andy Staples On3 show. “I know Georgia’s lost a lot of talent, but what they’ve been able to do on the offensive side of the ball, getting Trevor (Etienne), getting London Humphreys from Vanderbilt, Colbie Young from Miami, Georgia’s going to look really good on the offensive side of the ball next year. Carson Beck‘s coming back, he’s going to have plenty of weapons.”

Georgia so far has had 18 transfers out from the program, while welcoming in only four. But those four are all either proven impact players or players with serious potential to be impact players.

Most of the players who have departed have not been impact players to date, though there have been a couple.

“The one head-scratcher for me has been AJ Harris, who’s been rumored to be a favorite for Auburn,” Nakos said. “But On3’s Rusty Mansell reported the door’s still open in Athens.”

The one spot where it’s a little more difficult to grab players out of the transfer portal is in the trenches. Elite linemen simply don’t show up very often and when they do competition is fierce to land them.

“That’s kind of the thing in this day and age,” Nakos said. “To have an elite offensive, defensive line you need a guy with experience. And obviously offensive and defensive lines don’t grow on trees. There’s a reason why Walter Nolen is going to Ole Miss and there’s a reason everybody was after Walter Nolen. But that’s the nature of college football this day and age.”

Another thing Georgia has to battle when it comes to the transfer portal is that because it stacks talent so deep, really, really good players can end up sitting the bench or not playing much early on.

It becomes incumbent on the coaches to walk them through a plan for their careers, showing them exactly how they can get on the field and when they can expect that. Fail to do that and the portal becomes an attractive option for those guys.

“Obviously guys want to play right away, so it’s this really tough battle where it’s like, hey, you need more experience to be elite playing on the Georgia defensive line, but at the same time that guy probably wants to go play immediately and they might be saying, ‘Hey, give me a year’ or something like that,” Nakos explained.

Regardless, Georgia has landed some studs in the NCAA transfer portal.

Like Florida running back Trevor Etienne.

“The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party’s going to look very interesting next year just seeing how Florida and Georgia look that weekend,” Nakos said.