The current era of College Football is becoming known as the NIL and Transfer Portal era. The landscape of the sport has shifted heavily over the past several years as College athletes are now allowed to receive financial compensation while players are able to move from program to program on a yearly basis thanks to the transfer portal.
While nearly every powerhouse in College Football accepted the new rules as they allowed the rich to get richer, one Coach has resisted the changes more than anyone else. Dabo Swinney has fought against the idea of the Transfer Portal since its inception, only adding two transfers before this year in veterans to serve as backup quarterbacks. This year, after sitting by for years watching everyone else load up, Swinney finally showed that he could've gone all out in the transfer portal the entire time, showing he wasn't complaining because he couldn't add transfers.
Dabo Swinney calls for rules in the Transfer Portal
This week, Dabo Swinney went on the College GameDay podcast calling for a clear set of rules with the transfer portal.
"I think we’re coming out of a period of complete chaos and where there’s no cap, the schools can’t handle things directly, it comes from outside entities. You have the agent process is not regulated. I mean, there’s a lot of challenges, but I do think that we’re about to enter into a much more structured environment that is going to, it might take a year, but I think it’s going to create some markets, you know, to where there’ll be some transparency, there’s an actual cap. I think the best thing about the settlement is it keeps college football scholastic."Dabo Swinney
While Dabo Swinney is calling for changes to the rules, he's certainly calling for the correct changes to the sport. College Football has no regulations as it currently stands as agents are shopping players to schools before they ever enter the transfer portal rather than the player entering for the right reasons.
The NIL side of this equation has played a massive factor in the chaos as well as some of the agents aren't as qualified as they may need to be while the outside parties promising the money haven't always been the best groups leading to situations like Matthew Sluka sitting out after starting the year at UNLV or Jaden Rashada suing Florida and Billy Napier.
If the House Settlement is ever finalized it'll bring regulatory parties on board to ensure the NIL deals that are being reported are truly being made for the right reasons. The House Settlement will also allow schools to pay players money through revenue sharing which is the salary cap that Dabo Swinney refers to.
"So you know, some years you might have that fourth year quarterback that you have a lot of money invested in, or you may have two senior tackles and a great wideout or a great corner, and then the next year, those guys move on. So there’s some money freed up, so it might give you more flexibility within your cap in recruiting, because you do have to, you got to retain talent. You got to acquire talent. But I do think that you figure out, just like the NFL, you play premium players at premium positions, right? And if you pay the wrong guys, you’re in trouble."Dabo Swinney
The example Swinney lays out it the exact scenario that College Football fans should look forward to in this current era of College Football. Setting a "Cap" on NIL Deals will allow talent to balance at schools across the Country rather than the same group of schools constantly poaching players simply because they have more money than everyone else.
While Dabo Swinney might just be calling for changes at this point, the changes could soon come making College Football a much better place.