Today’s signees could be tomorrow’s transfers
SAN ANTONIO — Kids haven’t changed that much. A quartercentury ago, I knew plenty of teenagers who bailed on their first college choice after less than a year, and it wasn’t because of a generational lack of fortitude.
Some got homesick. Some missed their girlfriends. Some figured out they fit in better somewhere else. And for some, yes, the decision was purely financial.
So as the transfer-portal era of college sports has made the arrival of another national signing day seem less significant than it’s ever been, I will refrain from lamenting the supposed decline of the American work ethic or pining for the mythical days of yore when people would make a commitment and stick with it.
Yes, many of the high school seniors who put pen to paper Wednesday will change their minds in a few months. Judging by the early results of a new NCAA rule allowing every college athlete a one-time immediate transfer with no limitations, at least a dozen of the four- and five-star recruits whom certain fan bases are drooling over today will wind up playing for somebody else.
And if that means coaches earning millions of dollars per year have to keep recruiting those players after they sign? If it prevents those coaches from bending the truth to get players on campus, because nothing will be stopping them from leaving once they figure out they were sold a bill of goods? If a heralded football recruit in 2021 now has the same right to be flighty like normal college kids did in 1996? Well, it’s about time.
To be sure, it will take some getting used to. And for fans with a lifelong sense of devotion to an alma mater, it might drive them up the wall to discover that a key player might not share the same allegiance.
Two months ago, for instance, a sophomore quarterback named Zach Calzada delivered the performance of a lifetime, lifting Texas A&M to a stirring upset of Alabama and making it seem as though he’d never again need to pay for a drink within 50 miles of the Brazos River. This week, Calzada announced he was putting his name in the transfer portal and intends to suit up for somebody else next year.
See, Calzada’s legend might have been secure, but his playing time wasn’t, so it made sense for him to move on. For the Aggies, and for every major program, there’s always going to be a Next Big Thing, which means the Last Big Thing might get antsy.
Before the NCAA changed the transfer rule, the only thing that kept many dissatisfied players from jumping ship was the fact they were required to sit out a season if they changed schools. For coaches who didn’t feel the need to follow through on promises made during the recruiting process — and who, by the way, were free to leave for a better offer at a different school whenever they pleased — this served as a huge cudgel.
Sure, go ahead and transfer if you’re unhappy, they’d say. Enjoy wasting a year of your supposed prime on the bench.
That penalty doesn’t exist anymore. Are the new rules, coupled with the players’ newfound ability to secure name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, turning recruiting into a modern version of the Wild West?
Yep.
Are some players blatantly trying to get the most money and/or playing time they can, with no regard to educational experience?
Sure.
But selfishness is far from a new phenomenon, and the programs that best navigate signing day in the transfer-portal era will be successful because they give the players the best chance to win.
Just like successful programs always have.
Now, they’ll just have to be more upfront with how they intend to do it.
It is not lost on me that this earnest defense of free agency is being written by someone who attended only one university, has held the same job for 22 years, and has even stuck with the same cable company for almost that long.
It’s true. When it comes to the benefits of bolting for greener pastures, I don’t exactly speak from experience.
But every December, when my 12-month discount is about to expire, I make a phone call. I let that cable company know that even though I have a long track record of commitment, I also have options. And I make it clear that I might be willing to stick around, but only if I’m not being taken for granted.
And if every kid who signs a letter of intent Wednesday demands the same thing?
Good for them.