Perhaps the worst aspect of the transfer portal is that the “incubators” of underated talent gets left with nothing.  Not even a waiver wire fee for the team left behind.

Let’s consider a few cases:

Ahmad Hardy    Hardy  was a 0-star recruit from Monticello, Mississippi.  Hardy had a breakout season, rushing for 1,351 yards for an upstart Louisiana Monroe squad.

Fluff Bothwell  was not even on Phil Steele’s depth chart for the top 4 running backs going into the 2024 season.  Fluffy wound up with  750 rushing yards for South Alabama, scoring 7 TD’s in USA’s last 5 regular season games.  The timing of the transfer portal is so messed up that Bothwell declared before USA’s bowl game last Saturday against Western Michigan. (Transfer portal timing also caused Penn State’s backup QB to hit the portal before their CFP game this weekend against SMU.  YIKES!!)

Compared to Hardy and Bothwell, Washington State’s John Mateer, was a high school phenom as a 3-star recruit.  Mateer emerged as a breakout star for Washington State in 2023 after Cam Ward’s departure.  Mateer wanted a bigger stage than the Pac-2 in 2025.  Au revoir,  Pullman!

Transfer portal sadness has not been confined to the players.  Dave Clawson is an excellent coach who recently  waived the white flag after 11 years at Wake Forest.  The Demon Deacons had serious money issues that created key departures from Winston-Salem.

The transfer portal can work well for all parties when a player can get more playing time at another school.  And this is America, where money rules.  Still, the portal too often leaves a very bad feeling with the Odyssey.