Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher and others prefer to keep the Feb. 1 SEC transfer deadline

DESTIN, Fla. — Nick Saban and Alabama don’t take too many L’s, but barring an unforeseen vote at the 2022 SEC spring meetings, the Crimson Tide’s sponsored proposal to end the Feb. 1 intraconference transfer deadline appears unlikely to pass.

Alabama was in favor of the league eliminating the SEC transfer deadline window and following the universal NCAA guidelines, which allows players to enter the portal until May 1 and remain immediately eligible for the fall. 

Under the proposal, players would be permitted to participate in spring practice and spring games at one school and then still transfer to another SEC school, and that seems to be a sticking point. 

However, the majority of SEC coaches and ADs interviewed in Destin were in favor of keeping the transfer Feb. 1 transfer window. 

“Florida actually proposed that rule last year,” Gators athletics director Scott Stricken said. 

“We like that rule. It helped calm the waters from the transfer portal standpoint. I don’t see the need for us to do anything to it.”

South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin and Florida’s Billy Napier were all openly in favor of keeping the current model. 

Auburn’s Bryan Harsin also expressed interest in maintaining the present rules. Tennessee’s Josh Heupel kept his opinions coy, while Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea told On3 he was “less concerned” with the outcome of the proposal and more focused on recruiting the right guys to Nashville. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz took a wait-and-see approach.

Alabama has dominated the transfer portal the last two years, including adding a trio of SEC standouts — Georgia wideout Jermaine Burton, LSU corner Eli Ricks and Vandy tackle Tyler Steen — this offseason.

Other notables to transfer within the conference this offseason include quarterbacks Max Johnson (from LSU to Texas A&M) and Zach Calzada (from Texas A&M to Auburn), outside linebacker Drew Sanders (from Alabama to Arkansas) and defensive backs Greg Brooks and Joe Foucha (both from Arkansas to LSU). 

The concern among many of the league’s coaches is “opening the floodgates” after spring practice has concluded.

Kiffin joked that teams may not even televise their spring games if the May 1 deadline was in place because “You’re saying, hey, here’s our best players, come get them.” For similar reasons, power brokers in the ACC, Pac-12, Big-12 and Big Ten have expressed interest this offseason in instituting their own intraconference transfer window like the SEC’s current model.

Here’s a rundown of comments On3 collected from SEC coaches on the idea of eliminating the Feb. 1 transfer window:

LANE KIFFIN

“I would guess that (the Feb. 1 deadline) is gonna stay where it is. You open up a long time your players can go. There were discussions to think about, if that’s open in the SEC, someone kind of joked they’re not going to put their SEC spring game on TV because you’re saying, ‘Hey, here’s our best players, come get them.’ So I think that is probably something that will stay, in my opinion. It doesn’t mean that that was everyone’s opinion. But that’s really difficult and basically your players are recruited in our conference for a long time, all the way past spring.”

KIRBY SMART

“I prefer the way things currently are where there’s two windows as they are. I think that it’s tremendously difficult to go through 3-4 months of workouts and spring practice and then have your roster change within your conference. You know, it’s one thing to say, ‘OK, May 1, a guy can leave and go anywhere he wants to go.’ That happens, and I think a lot of times that’s for the good of the player. We’ve had some kids that realized in the spring they may not get the opportunity they so desired and they wanted to go look at other schools. There’s hundreds of schools they can go look at, you know? To say they can’t go in the SEC, I think it’s a good thing to have a date set earlier, they make a decision coming out of the season if they want to explore their options within the SEC.”

JIMBO FISHER

“Keeping what we have now. I like keeping the (Feb. 1 deadline). I am there. I think it is better. The one we presently have.”

SHANE BEAMER 

“I thought it worked very well for us this year, the Feb. 1 deadline transfer within the SEC. I understand that May 1 is what is (set) for the rest of the country, but there was a lot of discussion before that rule went into effect about even allowing transfers within the SEC for immediate eligibility. I remember those discussions last year when I first got hired. We put it in, the Feb. 1 date. First time through, I thought worked well. Some schools are interested in changing and getting in line with the rest of the country. I like the way it worked this year. 

“This is the best conference in America. Players want to come play in the SEC. There’s a lot of great programs in the SEC and a lot of great relationships within the SEC. You’re talking about players going from SEC school to SEC school, it can get tough. We had someone transfer into our program from Georgia. It’s part of it. There’s an argument, that well, if they’re going to leave you want to keep them in the SEC, so they’re not going to other conferences. But there’s the other argument that you don’t want them jumping from school to school within the SEC. I can see both sides of it. I’m eager to hear both sides.” 

JOSH HEUPEL

“I think we’re all trying to find the right way to navigate the transfer portal and then ultimately how that affects us inside our own league. 

CLARK LEA

“I think there’s a lot of things that need to happen before we determine what our what our stance is as a conference, but certainly we’re going to be paying attention to the potential for windows for the transfer portal and how that might impact decision makers within our league. And I tend to be less concerned. I think as long as we’re true to form in our recruiting that we’re recruiting to the program that exists, that we’re recruiting to our university, which I think is such a powerful retention tool for us we want guys to make football decisions, but we’re very aware of the fact that guys that come to Vanderbilt want a Vanderbilt education. They want a degree, and we we think that that strengthens our position, so long as we’re putting resources into the program and developing our players at a level that everywhere they every day they walk in our building, they know they’re one step closer to their goals. I think it’s a measure that protects us in a way and yet we have to just like everyone because there’s so much unknown we have to have our guards up a little bit on that.”