In 2018 the NCAA introduced the transfer portal, immediately changing the college football landscape forever. Years later, the portal has had a more significant impact on the sport than nearly any rule change ever before, but does this change help or hurt West Virginia?
Transfer portal rules updated
In April of 2021, the NCAA updated its transfer portal system to a “one-time transfer” system.
With these new rules, student-athletes are now allowed to transfer one time without penalty, unlike the previous rule, which stated if a student-athlete were to transfer, they would be forced to sit out a season before returning to the field.
Athletes quickly took notice as names began to fly into the transfer portal. Previous to the rule change in April, the NCAA had already taken an athlete-minded approach to the portal by loosely granting waivers to athletes who wanted to play immediately.
In doing this, they essentially created the transfer portal as we know it now.