Steve Sarkisian criticizes transfer portal calendar, impact on College Football Playoff

Saturday afternoon, Texas will host its first-ever College Football Playoff game. The Longhorns take on Clemson at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium as the 12-team CFP officially gets underway.

But for the past 11 days, Steve Sarkisian and his staff have been hard at work in the transfer portal. The window opened one day after the final CFP rankings reveal, and roughly 2,000 names have gone in since.

That led to an interesting balancing act for Sarkisian and Co., who have brought in three players from the portal so far. Recruiting in the transfer market while preparing for a first-round CFP game isn’t easy, Sarkisian said, because it’s also about player retention. That adds to the craziness of the current calendar.

“It’s pretty tough, I’ll be honest with you,” Sarkisian said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “And I think there was a lot of good intentions into what we did – moving the signing day up to the Wednesday before the championship weekend, which was fine. Hey, we signed a heck of a class. I’m not complaining.

“That Monday, the portal opens. And so as you’re going through it, you’re talking to your own players about player retention. At the same time, you’re monitoring the portal, who might be going in. At the same time, you’re getting ready for a really good opponent in Clemson coming to town.”

Steve Sarkisian: CFB calendar ‘needs to be revisited’

The Early Signing Period moved to just before conference championship week. That meant as Texas was getting ready to take on Georgia in the SEC Championship, the Longhorns were also looking to lock down its recruiting class on National Signing Day. That group currently ranks No. 1 in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking.

After the title game, all eyes turned to the portal. As players leave, Steve Sarkisian noted how that impacts more than just the starting unit. Practices change around as CFP preparation begins. Although he noted attempts at making change for the better, he said it’s still not a perfect situation.

“What’s happened, every year – I’m sure everybody’s got their own issues that they had to deal with. For us, it just happened to be that where we had the most attrition was on our front seven. We lost defensive linemen, we lost EDGE players, we lost linebackers. And not that all of them were front-line starters. But those become your scout team. And now, all of a sudden, you’re adjusting your practice plans because you don’t have the depth at the defensive line because you have kids going into the portal. And that’s fair to them. That’s the regulations we have. And then, we’re trying to recruit more players to get on board to fill those spots.

“And so all the while, I do think there’s good intentions. I think there is a better model and a better formula out there for the current teams that we have now. Because I hate it for those seven-eight kids that have already gone in the portal, that they’re not going to experience this with their teammates. I know it’s hard on the coaches right now. But I also know that what we’re trying to do is serve the players and give them an opportunity to go where they need to go. So I do think it’s something that needs to be revisited so that we can get the quality of play, not only in the CFP but in the bowl games, but still allow players to go to where they need to go to go to school.”

Matt Connolly contributed to this report.