Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Roster turnover taking big bite out of Owls’ program
Kiffin takes issue with transfer portal
Throughout fall camp, FAU has continued to work to nail down several of the offensive position groups that still don’t have a solid depth chart. But that task has been complicated as the team has also had to deal with departures and additions, as offensive lineman Calvin Ashley transferred to FAMU and junior college transfer Adrian Bryant rejoined the team after a months-long hiatus.
“We’ve struggled with numbers,” coach Lane Kiffin said. “For whatever reason, offensive line and receivers, we end up with transfers and have just struggled to keep guys, so our depth’s a concern there.”
Ashley was potentially a big loss, having transferred from Auburn and formerly been rated as a five-star
prospect. But for Kiffin, it’s just something to get used to as he notes a larger trend among college football of players transferring more frequently and for smaller reasons.
“I just talked to an old coach and he just said, ‘It must be different nowadays. Can you even coach them hard?’ ” Kiffin said. “And I’m not saying that about Calvin, I’m just saying in general. He said, ‘Can you even coach them hard because it just seems like as soon as it’s not going their way, they’re out of here.’ It’d be like being in the NFL and the contracts, you can just get out of the contract whenever you want. Be a pretty interesting league.”
Kiffin felt that at least part of the problem lies with the transfer portal, which allows an athlete at an NCAA institution to easily place their name in a database if they are looking to transfer. Coaches from other schools can search the database and contact potential athletes about joining their respective programs.
The portal has certainly made it easier for players to transfer and more actively take control of where they will be playing, but Kiffin sees drawbacks from a coaching and team perspective.
“Part of it is the portal coming along and that being the cool thing to do, and we’ve seen that everywhere,” he said. “I’m not saying you’re gonna notice a big difference, but college football teams are not gonna be as deep as they used to be.”
The Owls have also made use of junior college transfers such as Bryant, but Kiffin said a JUCO player can be as much of a gamble, if not more, than a Division I transfer.
“A junior college [player] comes in, he only has so much time,” Kiffin said. “And if things aren’t going his way, he says, ‘Ok, well, I’m gonna go to this portal thing again. I don’t have five years to sit around and figure this out.’ We’ve seen a lot of that with the kids.”
Kiffin would prefer to see more of his players wait for a chance to play, even if it may be years down the line. He pointed out redshirt junior James Charles, who has seen limited action in his first few years but is now the likely starting running back headed into 2019.
It’s true that not all players who don’t play decide to transfer. Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordan Merrell saw virtually no action in part due to an injury in his first two years, but remained with the Owls and has stood out in camp this year.
“I had an injury so, it’s just something that went that way so it wasn’t really nobody’s fault,” he said. “Just had to get back from that, get healthy, and now I’m just trying to work my way on the field.”
Kiffin has stressed to his team that just because an opportunity isn’t there today doesn’t mean it will never come, and is hoping to keep more of his roster intact moving forward.
“I say to these guys all the time, forever, a lot of times when you stay, you play. Especially nowadays in this world with everybody leaving,” he said. “So, you stay you play. It’s a good lesson.”