“College football has problems.”
No truer words could have been spoken by Penn State head coach James Franklin on the day he spoke to media leading up to the College Football Playoff.
Monday was supposed to be a day to look ahead and look forward to the expanded 12-team field and Penn State hosting a playoff game for the first time in program history.
It was supposed to be an avenue to preview an electric atmosphere at Beaver Stadium and the keys to stopping a fast and exciting SMU team led by quarterback Kevin Jennings. These were discussed, but they weren’t the storyline.
Instead, everything took a backseat to the news of the weekend. On Sunday night, quarterback Beau Pribula announced his intention to enter the transfer portal.
The following day, PSU quarterback Drew Allar announced his return to Penn State for the 2025 season.
The portal opened Dec. 9, one day after the CFP final rankings and playoff matchups were revealed, and closes Dec. 28. If a player doesn’t enter the portal during this window, they must wait until the spring session, which opens April 16. In order to find a new program in time and be ready for spring camp, Pribula needs to speak with other programs before his options run dry.
Pribula threw for 275 yards and five touchdowns this season and factored heavily in Penn State run game. The 6-foot-2 QB rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries and guided Penn State to a critical victory at Wisconsin as Allar watched on injured from the sideline.
Amidst a run to winning a national championship and focusing on his future in 2025, Pribula felt he had no choice but to place his name into the transfer portal in an effort to become a starter during his redshirt junior and senior years.
— Beau Pribula (@beauprib) December 16, 2024
“The current NCAA post-season model creates a challenge for student-athletes,” Pribula said in a statement posted to social media. “The overlapping CFB playoff & transfer portal timeline has forced me into an impossible decision.”
Pribula is 100% right. The current transfer portal window makes no sense for college athletes. With Franklin’s in-house rule of players in the portal not actively in meetings and playing for the team— a rule he tried to make an exception for before it became clear that it was best for Pribula to move on— Pribula’s career is over at Penn State and won’t factor into the CFP.
How is this fair?
The transfer portal being open DURING THE SEASON puts teams and players at a significant advantage. Forcing players preparing for playoff games to make a choice on next season before the current one ends dumbfounds me.
“I can give you my word. Beau Pribula did not want to leave our program and he had no intention of leaving our program before the end of the season,” Franklin said. “College football has problems.
“He felt like he was put in a no-win situation, and I agree with him.”
Real ones will always remember the Beau Pribula Wisconsin game #WeAre
— Connor Griffin (@RealCGriff) December 16, 2024
It’s a lose-lose situation for Pribula and Penn State and it’s not just affecting the PSU. 25 Marshall players entered the portal following the departure of head coach Charles Huff and withdrew from the Independence Bowl against Army. Now Army and the bowl committee had to left scramble find a new opponent— which it did in Louisiana Tech— and Marshall may be punished for dropping out with few players. Is this good for college football?
NIL and the transfer portal have revolutionized the game. But the system is flawed. College football players are becoming more and more like pro athletes by the day. NIL deals are becoming contracts. Michigan star signee Bryce Underwood will earn more than $10 million to play for the UM. What are we doing here?
The NCAA shortened the transfer portal window from 45 to 30 days earlier this year, thus adding confusion and complication to an already complicated situation. Some will argue that players need to enter the portal at the end of the spring semester in order to commit and enroll at a new school by spring. That argument remains flawed and alarmingly hundreds of portal entries at various levels don’t find new homes.
The “student” athlete argument with the amount of money being dished out, including a reported $13 million collected by Penn State NIL and North Carolina set to spend $20 million with Bill Belichick, falls on deaf ears. The system needs guidance for student-athletes to succeed.
The players are being paid and new legislation continues to change the game becoming like the NFL. A Jacksonville Jaguars player or Cleveland Browns player won’t hit free agency as soon as their season ends even though they didn’t make the playoffs, why should something similar be the case in college football? Imagine the brushback if it happened on a playoff team. This shouldn’t be a factor with NIL and deals becoming like pro contracts. It’s one avenue CFB can look at.
I have no problem with Pribula entering the portal to find a starting role before his career is over. The York native’s dream was to play for Penn State and created national headlines by becoming the first notable player to suffer from a broken system.
The portal window has two options:
- Players on teams below .500 and not in bowl games or the playoffs can enter the portal and those on postseason teams can enter the day after their final game
- The portal should not open until the day after the national championship on Tuesday, January 21
College football severely needs a commissioner to regulate the NIL and transfer portal issues that seemingly become more prevalent every season. The sport stands alone in college athletics with Beaver Stadium, Ohio Stadium, Michigan Stadium, and others Playoff games should in no way be affected by decisions made for next spring and fall. For as great as college football is and continues to be, it can’t get out of its own way. This won’t be the last time a key player won’t suit up unless the rules are changed.
The College Football Playoff will be an incredible display of the sport at its highest level and entertaining as ever with 12 teams. Nothing should stand in the way of that.
