Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule expects to lose up to 40% of his players to the transfer portal over the next few weeks. His college football program will not be exempt to the ramifications of a new NCAA rule regarding roster size.
This is going to be an unfortunate reality that will have a direct impact on all 134 FBS teams.
With the settlement of House vs. NCAA in October, the NCAA has replaced scholarship limits with roster limits. The rule used to allow for 85 scholarships. The new rule instead allows a total of 105 players. Anywhere between 15 and 20 players per team will lose their spots because of the change.
As a result, those players will be forced to enter the transfer portal because they no longer have a place on the team. That is in addition to all of the athletes who will enter the transfer portal by their own decision. Approximately 4,000 college football players hit the portal last offseason, a number that could increase by more than 50% with the new roster limitation.
There could be ~6,000 players in the transfer portal!
Head coaches are preparing for an unprecedented departure. Rhule expects an exodus of at least double the amount of the 15 players he is required to, essentially, cut.
Think this year, we’re going to end up with 30-50 guys in the portal with the new roster (limit) …
I don’t want any of them to go into the portal. I want all of them to stay here and develop. It’s just the new world we’re in. It’s going to be different.
— Matt Rhule
A roster emigration of this size is typically reserved for programs that either lost the majority of their games or made a head coaching change. Some coaches, like Deion Sanders, already choose to overhaul a large amount of their rosters every offseason. They will be less impacted by this new rule.
Unfortunately, with all of these players entering the portal and constricting roster limits, a large number of athletes won’t be able to find a new opportunity on the FBS level. FCS teams are going to benefit from this trickle-down effect. The same can be said for Group of Five Six programs, who will receive an influx of talent transferring down from Power Five Four teams like Ohio State, Kansas, USC, etc.