College Football Rosters Are About To Be Raided, As The Transfer Portal Period Is Nearing A Start, NIL Picks Up

Go ahead and prepare yourself to be outraged, with the college football transfer portal preparing to open. There's most likely a chance your team will suffer some type of roster turnover, with college staffs already preparing for a touch December.

The harsh reality is that a lot of teams around college football will not be able to afford to keep their star players around. NIL hounds are already on the loose, looking for the next big start to step foot on their respective campuses.

Long term success for a program depends upon keeping players from transferring, or being bought by opposing schools. Like it or not, this is what NIL has turned into over the first few years.

Most Schools Can't Keep Up With NIL, Transfer Portal

As for on-campus tradition or the old age of recruiting, that looks to be an afterthought. Can you get me to the NFL? This is a long forgotten question in the eyes of some college football players. That question has turned into 'How much can you pay me to transfer?' in today's society.

“I think in today’s world you can no longer say passion and spirit is going to get you by anymore,” Washington State's Jake Dickert said regarding the portal. “It’s completely real that the NIL matters and the facts are, Washington State, we’re way behind; not even competitive in some aspects of the NIL. Recruiting, these kids tell you what they’re getting.

“Oregon State probably has us by 10X (times), Arizona has us by 20X. USC, Washington, Oregon … who even knows? It’s a whole other planet. That’s part of what we need and it’s very, very important.”

There are a lot of schools around the country that will agree with Dickert, knowing their rosters are about to be raided. Unfortunately, there's nothing they can do about it. A school like Washington State or Cal has to be frugal, picking their battles while knowing the funds aren't around.

This is why football program's around the country are preparing for the first week in December, knowing their rosters are about to flip.

Three Weeks Until 'Open Season' Around College Football

One of the newest changes to the transfer portal is how long it actually stays open. Until a recent rule change, the window lasted 45 days, starting the weekend of championship Saturday. After conference title games are decided, open season begins for teams around the country.

“In three weeks, it’s going to be open-target season on our players,” Jake Dickert noted. “That’s what it’s going to be. It’s already started. So, know that’s what’s coming. We need to provide them with as much resources as we possibly have here to keep this team together, to keep recruiting, to keep going. It’s the future of college football.

Make no mistake, Jake Dickert is all for players making money off their likeness, but he's not oblivious to the consequences.

“To ignore it or ever think that it’s going to go away, that’s a long time in the horizon. I think it’s only going to grow in some capacity, and I’m very supportive of the players getting a piece of the puzzle and profiting off their name, image and likeness."

Like it or not, the crazy transfer portal window is creeping upon us. The negotiations will start, some of them already have, with tampering around the sport.

For those third days, there will be a lot of nervous college football staffs around the country. Welcome to the new era.

I hope donors are ready to breakout the checkbooks.