College Football’s 5th Quarter: Transfers, Johnny Manziel and 2018

5. The transfer rule

The transfer rule is a hot topic across college football during the 2018 off-season. The lull of National Signing Day is ending and spring games haven’t yet hit our Watch ESPN apps. That means college football fans get the time to focus on the NCAA’s new transfer proposal. The Big 12 has offered their take on the transfer rule and the NCAA has had to come out to quell the hysteria of college football coaches’ concerns that there will be free agency in college sports.

The rule still plans to cover allowing one transfer for a player if their coach that signed them leaves or is fired. Per the Football Scoop, one exception will be, “Allow students who meet specific, high-achieving academic benchmarks to play immediately after the first time they transfer during their college experience.” The other aforementioned transfer reason would be to, “Allow prospective student-athletes who have signed a National Letter of Intent to transfer and play immediately if a head coach leaves the school of the student’s choice, as well as under other exceptions already in the rulebook.”

Graduate transfers will still be allowed as well. The NCAA and the guidelines they hold to have hindered the student-athletes from being free to pursue their education where they please. If their ruling and stance is that the players are students who so happen to play football, they should be able to transfer much like any student can. I’m not blind to the reality that college football is big business, and I believe that the compromise from the Big 12 is the perfect remedy. Allowing players to transfer once if their coach is fired or leaves, and that they cannot follow their coach, makes complete sense.