College Football Transfer Portal – Lessons from the latest cycle

College football’s biggest transfer portal cycle officially ended on August 1.

The NCAA’s transfer database has been reset for a new calendar year The teams’ 2024 rosters are set. Preseason camp is going well. We’re just a few weeks away from witnessing the impact of all the high-profile players switching schools this offseason.

The 2023-24 transfer portal cycle, the sixth year for college programs using the portal, will dramatically impact the opening of the 12-team College Football Playoff race, but the effects of this record-setting cycle will be more far-reaching than is certain. Some title contenders are getting too loaded.

After studying every FBS transfer transaction of the last 12 months and tracking where each player ended up, here are 10 things we learned.

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1. More than 2,700 in motion

In April, the NCAA officially repealed its one-time transfer rule and ushered in a new era of unlimited transfers. That mid-cycle policy change made it easier for more players to step up and for schools to move on from weaker talent. The result? For the second year in a row, FBS scholarship transfers increased by 18%.

More than 2,800 FBS scholarship players have entered their names into the NCAA’s transfer database for the 2023-24 school year. When you remove those who withdrew or turned professional, the final total was 2,707 transfers.