Understanding NCAA transfer rule in modern college athletics

As college athletics rapidly change, there are a few rule changes that have tangibly shown movement toward student-athletes having more rights. These changes, like NIL, are often controversial. One of the key NCAA rules that changed in recent years was the new transfer rule, often referred to as the one-time transfer rule.

What is the one-time transfer rule?

In many respects, the one-time transfer rule is exactly what it says it is. It allows players to transfer without sitting out a season, one time. This is distinctly different from the old NCAA transfer rule, which forced student-athletes to sit out a season as a redshirt when they transferred.

The logic behind this was that players needed to adjust to their new school before joining a team. However, this was criticized because freshmen don’t have to sit out to adjust while other students could transfer freely, too. This made the old rule seem like it was only in place to control players, incentivizing them not to transfer.

As time went on, rules around the transfer players became muddled by a waiver system that was put in place to let players with hardships play immediately upon their transfer. This, too, was highly criticized. In this case, though, it was criticized for being inconsistent and favoring star players.

Ultimately, this led to the NCAA adopting new transfer rules on April 28, 2021.

“The Division I Board of Directors ratified the adoption of legislation expanding the one-time transfer exception to all student-athletes, no matter what sport they play,” the rule says. “The Division I Council adopted the legislation, which allows all student-athletes who have not transferred in the past the opportunity to compete immediately after transfer once in their period of eligibility.”

It was effective immediately.

Important aspects of the rule to understand

The rule is often depicted as players being able to transfer freely, almost turning college athletics into free agency. That’s not exactly true, though. Players can only transfer freely once. In the case where a player graduates, then they can transfer and play immediately once more as a graduate transfer.

However, that’s nothing new. Famous players like Russell Wilson — who transferred from NC State to Wisconsin — have found success as a grad transfer for a long time now.

There are other restrictions to the transfer portal, though.

In order to play the next season, players must enter the transfer portal by a certain date. For athletes who compete in fall and winter sports, they must be in the transfer portal by May 1. You’ll likely see a few players enter the portal after this. But this before May 1 is when you see a majority of players transferring. That’s because it comes after spring practice in football. Players know where they stand, and they move to try and fit their needs as soon as possible.

Players are still going to enter the transfer portal over the summer and into the fall, they just won’t be able to play during the season. Instead, they’ll have to wait for their spring semester to join a new program. Because of this, many people recommend playing out a season, even if you know you’re going to transfer. Others, however, argue it’s better to be in early so that coaches know you’re available.

It’s also important to understand that each conference has its own individual rules. So, while the one-time transfer rule allows players to move immediately, conferences still have their own rules that student-athletes need to navigate. Oftentimes, this meant that the conferences changed rules in the summer of 2021, like allowing players to transfer immediately within their conference.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey had this to say of the change, “While maintaining the expectation that coaches and others avoid improper recruiting, this change will ensure that student-athletes who enroll at an SEC member institution will enjoy the flexibility afforded to other student-athletes across the nation.” At least in the SEC, if players want to transfer within the conference, they need to be in by Feb. 1. That’s three whole months before the NCAA deadline.

Why do players transfer?

The new transfer rule changed college athletics in a number of key ways. For one, players entered the transfer portal at an astonishing rate. This had been a concern of some coaches and administrators because they now need to make sure players are happy and don’t want to transfer. This often means changing how they recruit and how they balance their time. At the same time, they need to find a way to balance their roster with outgoing players and incoming transfers. Fans also have concerns about being able to latch onto players to root for at their schools. So, it’s important to understand why players actually transfer.

First, understand that no two transfers are exactly alike. Student-athletes are in different situations at different schools from different backgrounds.

There are a few common ways why people transfer:

• Playing time
• Homesickness
• Disagreement with coaches
• Having been misled by coaches
• An opportunity to play at a higher level
• Looking for a better system
• Coaching change
• NIL opportunities

There are numerous other reasons why a player might transfer and unless a player comes out and says why they’re transferring it’s hard to understand why they’ve done so. In many cases, there are several factors at play. In some cases, coaches can even push players to the transfer portal. This happens when a player was misevaluated or isn’t developing well. So, they get pushed out so the team can bring in someone else, often from the transfer portal.

Players transferring can also lead to an unfortunate future for some athletes. That’s because there are more players entering the transfer portal than spots available for them. Because of this, players can sometimes be stranded in the portal. In most cases, this happens when a player wants to upgrade their program but misjudges the interest they will have.

How the transfer rule and NIL go together

With the rapid and intense changes happening in college football today, it’s easy to see where NIL and the new transfer rule go hand-in-hand. They are, after all, both big steps forward for student-athletes rights. You can also see where big-name players are going to transfer for better NIL opportunities.

Now, it’s important to remember that teams can’t directly recruit athletes from other teams. That would be tampering, which is a level II NCAA violation. However, NIL collectives aren’t supposed to be officially affiliated with a school, so they can reach out to student-athletes without it breaking any rules. Furthermore, players can reach out to other players, and do so all the time, to recruit their friends. This, also, is not tampering.

To put it simply, these are still new changes. People are figuring out how these things are going to work going forward. There will, most likely, be new regulations coming at some point in the near future. However, for now, coaches, fans, and administrators are all anxious about these changes.