FBS Committee Proposes Move to 10-Day January CFB Transfer Portal Window

The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is angling for changes to the transfer portal this season.

The committee voted Thursday to move to a January transfer window and eliminate the spring transfer window, the NCAA announced. The Division I Administrative Committee has to approve the changes before they are enacted, and a vote is expected to take place before Oct. 1.

The new legislation, if passed, would mean that FBS student-athletes could enter the transfer portal between Jan. 2-11.

During the American Football Coaches Association convention earlier this year, FBS coaches voted unanimously in support of the new portal proposal, per ESPN's Max Olson. The hope is that the new window would give players and coaches enough time to focus on the end of the college football season while still allowing players to transfer before the start of the spring semester.

Under the current structure, players can notify their schools of a transfer during a 20-day period in December and a 10-day period in April. Last season, the first window was from Dec. 9-28, while the spring window was from April 16-25.

Both transfer windows have been a point of contention for college football teams in recent years.

Olson noted that Penn State and SMU lost their backup quarterbacks to the transfer portal while competing in the College Football Playoff, and Marshall had to forfeit the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl because it didn't have enough players available following a coaching change.

While the spring portal can give coaches the chance to cut players and bring in new transfers, some believe it gives players too much leverage to seek NIL deals from their schools, according to Olson.

In April, former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava conducted one of the first college football holdouts of the NIL era, reportedly seeking a larger deal than the one he had at the time. The redshirt sophomore then used the spring portal to transfer to UCLA.

His transfer led to the Vols scrambling to find a new starting quarterback, and they ultimately landed Joey Aguilar after he previously transferred to UCLA from App State.

The new transfer portal window would seemingly help eliminate last-minute transfers like the one Tennessee dealt with, though Olson noted that there could be "legal challenges for restricting the transfer movement of athletes."