The transfer portal in college sports is a website that is only available to college athletes through the NCAA organization. Athletes use it to declare their interest in transferring to coaches at other colleges.
It’s used the most frequently by college basketball players, both men and women, but in recent years, college football has made themselves more prominent in the portal.
The portal can be a great way for athletes to go play for schools better suited for them, whether that be because of the coaching style or a better competitive environment. Since the start of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals, it now seems like an athlete’s way of finding a higher paycheck leaving teams feeling “cheated” or at a loss of what to do if multiple of their players enter the portal.
In the 2025-2026 season alone, the portal saw over 6,700 players in the two weeks that spanned from January 2nd to the 16th.
College football is split into several different subdivisions, but the two most popular ones are the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The FBS consists of teams like Florida State and Ohio State, and the FCS consists of teams like Montana and Montana State.
National Level (Teams in the FBS)
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) belongs to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) inside of the FBS and nobody inside the ACC has gotten more “cheated” by the transfer portal use than them.
In the 2025-2026 season, FSU lost 34 players in the portal and only gained 13. Now, the players that they gained, like Offensive Linemen (OL) Xavier Chaplin from Auburn and Running Back (RB) Quintrevion Wisner from Texas.
While both players are exceptional at their positions, with Chaplin using his strong zone blocking IQ and Wisner fast feet to embarrass defenses, FSU had eight starters within the 34 players who went to the portal, making the roster shift in uncomfortable ways.
One of FSU key players who went to the portal was offensive player Jaylin Lucas, who played both Wide Receiver (WR) and RB. Lucas is amazing as a backfield player making him valuable in kickoff returns.
Ohio State
The Ohio State Buckeyes, who are in the Big Ten conference, are in a similar position as FSU by losing 29 players to the portal.
For the Buckeyes it wasn’t just one position group that got it hit by the portal, it was more of an even spread throughout every position. Some of the most notable players to leave are: WR Mylan Graham, Quincy Porter, Linebacker (LB) C.J Hicks, and Defensive linemen (DL) Jarquez Carter.
Both Graham and Porter were both five star players making their transfer hard for the Buckeyes. Hicks and Carter were also stars for the defensive side, making the team’s defensive needs even more important now because they were already struggling with it during the season.
Local Level
Montana State University
Montana State University (MSU) is coming off a high from winning the FCS championship this season, and the last time they won was in 1966. Even though they have a successful roster, they still lost ten players to the transfer portal.
The most notable position that MSU lost was the Defensive line but more specifically, their Cornerbacks (CB) was Jhase McMillan, Carson Williams, and Seth Johnson.
These CBs were extremely reliable and a huge reason that MSU was successful this season. Both McMillan and Johnson were first strings, and even though Wiliams technically wasn’t a starter, he played enough to be considered one.
University of Montana
The University of Montana (UM) also lost ten players due to the transfer portal. They were also coming off of a successful season where they made it to the semi-playoff.
All of the UM players that went to the portal were defensive except for three. They are losing mostly young safeties (S), a CB and a LB. The most notable players were CB Kyon Loud, LB, Caleb Otlewski, and S Diezel Wilkinson.
Loud was a starter and has made multiple successful tackles in big games that have secured wins for the team. He had 43 tackles in total with 23 of them being solo tackles.
Overall, the transfer portal has caused multiple teams to lose important parts of their roster or most of their full roster. FBS teams like FSU and Ohio State might be more affected then the FCS team like MSU and UM because they are in a bigger subdivision.
Any loss is hard for a team, and with how easy and readily available the transfer portal is, teams are fighting even harder now to keep their players.
Some of the rules right now are: athletes can only enter the portal during specific windows, graduated students can enter the portal at any time, and there are no limits to how many times an athlete can enter the portal.
Stricter rules could lead to teams having more success and both subdivisions might even see some dynasties rise.
