Over the past few years, massive changes have been underway in College Football with the sport taking a new look. The new era has become known as the NIL era but, that's not the only change as the transfer portal has taken the sport in a new direction giving players the ability to leave a program after a season and in the Spring to find a new program.
On paper, the changes make a ton of sense, players were long overdue for being able to earn money based off of their performance. The idea of the transfer portal is on the surface a fine change, players get homesick or won't end up playing at a school over time and shouldn't lose a year of eligibility because of it.
Neither change has played out as they were intended to be used, however which has created massive issues around the sport. NIL has turned into collectives using pooled money to treat recruiting and the transfer portal, while players use the collectives to negotiate the best deal possible. This has resulted in a lawsuit between Jaden Rashada and Florida while Nico Iamaleava just left Tennessee over NIL negotiations.
The transfer portal has allowed players to leave incredible situations for their career growth for schools that will simply offer them the most money. The transfer portal has also started a fear within college football coaches that they'll lose key pieces on their team at any given moment.
The Spring game at college football programs used to be a massive event for schools and the fanbase, especially in the SEC. Fans would pack their stadiums like it was a Saturday in the fall to watch their team in an intrasquad scrimmage, as it was a great event for the fans. This weekend at schools like LSU, Alabama, and several others around the Country, the stadiums were filled with half of the fans that used to attend the event, as coaches have stopped having Spring games over fear schools will watch the event and poach a depth player in the transfer portal.
What a difference a format makes pic.twitter.com/WcOatPBBn0
— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) April 12, 2025
The Nico Iamaleava saga was a significant signal for change across the sport, as Tennessee lost its starting quarterback due to NIL negotiations. The news broke that Iamaleava was still negotiating his deal, and a day later, he skipped Tennessee's practice, and before Tennessee's Spring Game started off, it was announced that Iamaleava would enter the transfer portal.
Tennessee was already paying Iamaleava as they gave him a massive contract coming out of High School which made massive news. Iamaleava's camp would argue that the deal is outdated while Tennesse could argue that Iamaleava still got paid for the season he sat behind Joe Milton while the value he was being paid may still be accurate.
This week was a clear signal to the powers in charge of College Football that some semblance of change needs to be made. The changes have gone so far in allowing everything to happen that some changes need to comeback, restricting the freedom the players and programs have. The House Settlement decision was delayed which should start to bring restrictions to the sport but, plenty of changes need to be made before the structure of College Football is unrecognizable.