The country’s leading portal plunderer still has harsh words for the currently rules
No team in college football has utilized the transfer portal quite like the Colorado Buffaloes. The Buffs overhauled their entire roster twice in as many years, taking full advantage of the current college football landscape. On Tuesday, we learned that Deion Sanders’ opinion on the transfer portal and redshirts mirror the institution itself — it’s complicated and nuanced.
Over the last two weeks, a wave of NIL-related redshirts has swept over the sports. Things kicked off when UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka announced he will redshirt, sit out for the remainder of the season, and transfer when the portal opens due to an NIL dispute. Since Sluka’s announcement, dozens of college players have decided to utilize their redshirt to protect their eligibility and transfer following the season.
Two of which are Colorado Buffaloes, being linebackers Trevor Woods and Jeremiah Brown. According to Sanders, ‘several guys’ have approached him about redshirting this season with the intention of saving their eligibility and potentially transferring.
Sanders is a player’s coach. He understands that the players who wish to redshirt are utilizing a legal method of saving their eligibility and potentially making money from NIL elsewhere. On the other hand, when players decide to sit out for the over half the season, it affects the whole team. It’s a balancing act that cannot leave all parties satisfied.
“I always want what’s best for the kids, I really do,” said Sanders in his weekly Tuesday presser. “That’s their prerogative, but it kinda puts us in a situation. Now, is there a question of ‘Are you redshirting for us, or are you redshirting for you?’”
The question that Sanders asks is an interesting one that also showcases impressive honesty for a college head coach. Keeping players around even though the program knows they’ll transfer only takes away opportunities from others. It’s not fair to rob a roster spot or practice reps from players who plan on staying, and Sanders makes that point.
“There should be NCAA guidelines that if you chose that particular course, we should just allow you to go. Because if a guy is redshirting for himself and he doesn’t plan on being here, why would you want him here if he doesn’t plan on being here? It’s not fair to him and it’s not fair to his teammates.”
Instead, Sanders argues that the NCAA should just let players loose and go to their next team instead of being stuck at a school they don’t want to be at until the portal opens in December.
“There needs to be a rule, NCAA-wise, to invest your course of action,” said Sanders. “They should let [redshirts] go and start their next journey with whatever team it is that they’ve already been talking to.”
That last part is a whole other can of worms to open. Deion is suggesting that teams are swooping in and offering players money to transfer while they’re still in season. He’s not wrong either. This is almost certainly happening, and Deion gave an example too.
“[Teams and players] have already been talking, just like the two guys that we played several weeks ago at Colorado State,” Sanders said.
The two players he’s referring to are Tory Horton and Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who each allege they were offered $600k to transfer to schools in power conferences. While this technically isn’t allowed, schools have been skirting regulations by using their NIL collectives to make these offers. Sanders, unsurprisingly, seems to be against this practice.
“How are you offered $600k, but you don’t get in the portal?” asked Sanders
He has a good point, too. Why are schools allowed to offer players $600k without them even being in the transfer portal? College football is truly becoming the Wild West, where rules are just suggestions and everything flies.
Sanders’ view on this current predicament is interesting and nuanced, especially considering how much he uses the transfer portal. He’s obviously pro-portal, but has gripes with the current state of redshirt rules and NIL collectives tampering.
Perhaps Prime is giving us a glimpse into the future of college football, where NIL deals are done in-house and not with the collective that acts as a proxy. Maybe we will see players be allowed to transfer and practice with their new teams midseason, as Deion suggested.
Whatever the future holds for college football, you can rest assured that the Deion Sanders-led Colorado Buffaloes will be right in the middle of that storm.