Look to the Transfer Portal: Discussion thread

[grover]

The smart G5 football and basketball coaches are selling their schools like the G League. Come here for 2-3 years, develop, play great, graduate if possible, and a bigger school with a larger NIL budget will want you. It is a smart and easy sell for coaches who are willing to embrace it.

The Michigan basketball coaches Dusty may recently said it out loud. He talked about developing a relationship with smaller schools whereby UM would get the first opportunity to recruit their bast players. In turn, if a player at Michigan does not develop as expected, Michigan would encourage him to transfer to one of the smaller schools with which it has a relationship. Creating not a one-way but a two-way street for transfers. Because for every player who transfers “up”, someone is transferring “down”.

This is the best way forward. Especially for QB, we need guys to come in with reps.

 

[cookies]

College football's 2026 transfer portal data highlights retention gap across conference tiers

Data reveals the talent gap between the Power Four and Group of Six conferences continues to expand

www.cbssports.com

For whatever reason, they arbitrarily left off 3rd team all conference players and such players transferred outta the SEC & Big Ten to the ACC/XII like Justice Haynes; or within the conference like Princewill U & Koi Perch.

Nevertheless, to continue into the players who transferred; let’s start with the Big XII.

10 guys they included: Omarion Miller, Jordan Seaton, Raleek Brown, Brendan Sorsby, John Henry Daley, Austin Romaine, Smith Snowden, Keaton Thomas, Benjamin Brahmer, & Carson Hansen

Colorado (2) —> LSU and Arizona State
Utah (2) —> Michigan
Cincinnati (1) —> Texas Tech
Arizona State (1) —> Texas
Kansas State (1) —> Texas Tech
Iowa State (2) —> Penn State
Baylor (1) —> Ole Miss

So we have half of the guys leaving teams because their teams changed their head coaches (& following them to their new school for 4 outta 5). 30% stayed in conference, and only 3 players left to the SEC/B1G without following their coaches. Colorado and Baylor, formerly home to 2 of the 3 players, won a combined 8 games this past season.

Onto the ACC. We know 2 of the 6 stayed in conference with Mensah and Barkate. Hollywood Smothers went to Texas. Earl Little Jr left to OSU after his team went 5-7 (somehow still beat P2 powerhouse Alabama, his former school, tho…) and his former HS HC and college DB coach Pat Surtain was fired. Rasheem Biles went to Texas. And Cade Ulauave transferred from Cal to BYU after his coach got fired.

So again, we see that coach firings preceded up 7 of the 16 ACC/XII 1st or 2nd all-conference players’ transfers. We know 10 outta the 16 transfers went to B1G/SEC and 7 1st/2nd all-conference p4 players transferred to the ACC/XII (Damon Wilson being 1 of the 7). So we went from a +1 portal ‘p2’ advantage in ‘25 to a +3 portal ‘p2’ in ‘26 advantage. NBD lol

All the XII/ACC teams that lost the aforementioned player(s) were on teams that won 8 or less regular season games; Utah being the only exception. Even Duke’s two postseason wins only got them to 9 on the year; including a loss to Mensah’s former program Tulane.

They make an argument about conference supremacy of the P2; then, when it comes to retaining players, they use intra-conference transfers as a negative without noting that the statistics to prop up their argument (42.9% + 43.4%) hold less purpose if the players are staying within the conference; or transferring to a conference that’s not the Big Ten or SEC.

Moreover, they don’t take the time to tell us where those g6 all conference guys are going; just that they are going. Once you know the why and the input methodology too, their argument looks dumber.