Jimbo Fisher raises serious concerns, suggests changes for the transfer portal

The transfer portal was a key tool for many coaches across college football last offseason, but Jimbo Fisher was one of the few who didn’t use it much. The Texas A&M head man brought in only two transfers in quarterback Max Johnson (LSU) and defensive lineman Micaiah Overton (Liberty).

That was due in part to the fact that the Aggies brought in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country according to On3 Consensus, featuring 30 total players and nine five-stars. However, when Fisher was asked about the portal in a Monday press conference, he also pointed to a much larger issue affecting all of college sports.

“You keep going to the portal, and I’d love to have the portal,” Fisher said. “But when a guy gets in the portal one day and he knows where he’s going and you can’t have contact with him before then, somebody’s talked to him before then. So there’s a fine line on how you work that and how that thing needs to be ironed out, too. Because when they jump in for a day and two days later they know where they’re going?

“I mean, yes, you want the portal. You’re gonna use every aspect. The portal, recruiting, everything known to man in what you’re doing. But you’ve gotta do it by the rules.”

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Jimbo Fisher’s comments seem to be referring to multiple instances of alleged tampering that occurred this offseason with the transfer portal. One of the biggest cases was that of receiver Jordan Addison, who won the Biletnikoff in 2021 before transferring from Pittsburgh to USC. Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi later accused Trojans coach Lincoln Riley of contacting Addison and encouraging him to enter the portal with the promise of an NIL deal.

In response to that and several other instances, the NCAA released updated guidance for NIL collectives in May. The guidance applies not only to how NIL is used in the transfer portal, but also with high school recruits.

In spite of their big recruiting class, the Aggies have struggled mightily this season and sit at just 3-6 with three weeks remaining in the regular season. Because of that, Fisher will not only have to consider looking toward to transfer portal to add experience this offseason, but also work on keeping some of those highly touted recruits on his team from entering it as well.