Clemson football: Transfer culture

Athletes should be able to transfer as any other student would.

If you’ve read anything I’ve written on transfers, I’ve tried to make it clear that I’m not against student-athletes being able to transfer.  If not, I’ll reiterate – I believe athletes should be able to transfer as any other student would.  No one should be stopped from transferring anywhere, including to and from Clemson football, that will accept them and/or offer a scholarship.

That doesn’t mean it’s always a wise or the best decision to transfer.

At first these two things may seem in conflict with each other, but they’re really not.  Just because I’m allowed to do something – eat five cheeseburgers, for example – doesn’t mean it’s good for me to do so.

Recently I’ve noticed a trend in the podcasts I listen to and the articles I read on college football.  There is very little discussion of high school football players and their recruitment and there is a lot of focus on transfers.

One podcast, whose business is (or was?) high school recruiting, went through a 50 or so minute podcast with an uncountable number of references to transfers and the portal, and spent the better part of 9 seconds on high school recruits.

The recruiting culture has changed from fawning over 17 year old high school kids to fawning over 19 year old disgruntled college kids looking for a fresh start somewhere else.

I call it the transfer culture and the players and media are lapping it up.

There are obvious reasons for this, among them that transfers are more likely to make an immediate impact on the upcoming season.  I get it.

The transfer portal is hurting high school athletes & majority of those that enter portal.

It doesn’t matter if it hurts high school athletes or even the many hundreds of kids who gave up a scholarship to get nothing through the portal.

"The issue is for the high school athlete. High school athletes are receiving less offers than ever before. The transfer portal has created a situation where college coaches save scholarships for transfers that might have otherwise gone to high school players they can develop."

College coaches are looking for the quick fix, the short-term answer to a problem and they’ll deal with the ramifications later.

It’s the American way.

This is where I tell you my grand plan to fix it, make it right and make everyone happy, except I don’t have one.

This is not a Clemson thing either, as Clemson basketball has survived off of transfers in recent seasons and the baseball team has benefited from a couple this season.

Maybe it’ll sort itself out before it implodes, as humans are often prisoners of the moment thinking this is the best or worst time in history without a good understanding history and I’m no different.

For now though, we have to learn to deal with this transfer culture, where transfers are talked about discussed and desired, much like the super star high schooler used to be.

I’m not Don Quixote tilting at windmills.  I understand why the portal is here and why it’s so popular.  I’m also not saying it should be stopped.

I’m saying, like everything else, given few rules and the appearance of few drawbacks, human beings will push the boundaries and abuse a potentially good thing until they are forced to alter their behavior.