College Football Transfer Portal Opens Soon for 2024-25

As college football fans in Indianapolis gear up for another exciting season, one of the most important aspects of the sport is getting ready to kick off—the 2024 college football transfer portal. This transfer portal has become essential for teams looking to enhance their rosters and find talented players, essentially functioning like free agency.

The transfer portal will be active for 45 days during the 2024-25 academic year. It opens on Monday, December 9, 2024, right after the College Football Playoff field and bowl games are announced. The portal will then close on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. There will also be a 15-day window in April, opening on April 16, 2025, and closing on April 30, 2025. Additionally, when a head coach leaves a program, there will be a special 30-day transfer window for athletes to explore new opportunities.

The NCAA reports that over 2,800 FBS scholarship players entered the transfer portal during the 2023-24 school year. After accounting for withdrawals and those going pro, about 2,707 transfers were finalized. This trend indicates that approximately 25% of all FBS scholarship players explored other options in just one year.

The NCAA is also considering changes to the transfer portal windows, proposing a reduction from 45 to 30 days for football and basketball, with a vote expected in October. A significant finding from a study conducted over the first two years of the portal is that most athletes tend to enter the portal within the first four weeks of its opening.

So far, the 2023-24 cycle has seen 883 FBS scholarship transfers land on Power 4 rosters. This is a significant increase from just 454 the previous year. The strength of this year’s transfer portal could influence quite a few teams in 2024, especially with more than 60 FBS teams projected to have transfers as their starting quarterbacks.

As teams prepare for next season, the transfer portal continues to play a pivotal role in shaping college football, making it more competitive than ever.