Former Alabama OL Kadyn Proctor Transferred Home To Iowa, Only To Now Reportedly Be Going Back To Tuscaloosa

The return home to Iowa lasted about two months for offensive lineman Kaydn Proctor, who will now reportedly transfer back to Alabama, after recently transferring to the Hawkeyes. 

News of Proctor coming back home to Iowa was met with jubilation from the Hawkeyes fan base, after the highly-touted lineman signed with Alabama out of high school. Playing in all thirteen games for Nick Saban last season, the talented offensive lineman created a massive buzz for the Hawkeyes when he decided to transfer from Alabama after Saban retired. 

It was seen as a homecoming, but that now seems like it is over. David Eickholt is reporting that Proctor will leave Iowa City for a return to Tuscaloosa, after only being gone for a few months. Iowa will open Spring practice on Wednesday and a return to Alabama would come in the transfer portal period that is set to open on April 15th. 

Until then, it would seem that Proctor would return to Tuscaloosa to work out before being able to enroll in classes for the summer session. This is a major pickup for new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, who did not have much of a chance to recruit Proctor to stay when he took the job. 

There was also a good amount of NIL money involved in his move back to Iowa, so that part will be interesting to watch over the next few months. Proctor had been committed to Iowa until the day before signing day in 2022, flipping to Alabama on the final day, shocking Hawkeye fans. 

While attending an Iowa basketball game this past season, Proctor professed his love for the school, mentioning that he was coming home. 

"It's home, I love home. This is ultimately where I wanted to be," Proctor proclaimed. "It's the first place I thought of when I entered the transfer portal. So, I had my mind made up when I entered the transfer portal."

The Iowa football staff had kept up with Proctor while he was at Alabama, with recruiting director Tyler Barnes texting the offensive lineman after a tough outing against Texas last season. When Kadyn referenced his communication with the Iowa staff, it led to the Hawkeyes having to self-report an NCAA Level III violation. 

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Spring Transfer Portal Period Is Going To Be Chaotic

As I've discussed plenty of times in the past two months, the upcoming Spring transfer portal period will be the wildest portal window since its inception. Multiple schools went through coaching changes this past off-season, led by the ripple-effect of Nick Saban retiring. This led to many players not having enough time to find a new home, given that most of the schools not going through changes had already started classes, along with the time period itself. 

Now, with the NCAA having to back-off from NIL rules and enforcement due to an injunction granted by an East Tennessee judge, the upcoming negotiations will be at an all-time high. Given that NIL collectives can now openly discuss monetary figures with potential transfers, this will end up leading to multiple bidding wars across the country. 

We are always paying attention to the transfer portal, or the rumors of who might enter," one Power-4 assistant told OutKick in February. "There's a reason why we have an entire room dedicated to the portal, watching film and looking for new entries. If one of those players is not happy with a whole new coaching staff, or even a position coach, it's our job to find out if they're good enough to go after. And it's not just the coaching staffs in our business. You'd be surprised at how many NIL agents are shopping their clients around this time of year. It's still awkward to receive a text message from a number that turns out to be an agent or runner, gauging our interest in one of their players. Hell, I don't know how some of these guys even got my number to begin with. It used to be the high school coach reaching out, but not anymore."

You can expect to see a number of top names in college football testing out the transfer portal when it opens for just fifteen days during this period. 

If today's news of Kadyn Proctor deciding to head back to Alabama is any indication of what is coming next month, you can go ahead and prepare for a wild two weeks full of offers and promises of playing time.