Kentucky football has put together a top ten transfer portal class

[Pobilly]

I could be wrong — it would not be the first time … or the second … or the third … — but I do not think there is post-Spring portal anymore. I think the current one is the only one, but then, there are probably ways around that, too.

Yeah, this is the only portal window now (Did a quick internet check). I think if a coach leaves or fired, then that teams players have 30 days to enter into a portal (at any time during the winter, spring, and summer.

[Jasun74]

Checking the portal team rankings UK is as high as 6 but as low as 37 (ON3 is the low ranking). Everyone else has UK either top 10 or top 15 that I found.
It seems that ON3 seems to rank UK players lower than everyone else. Funny thing is when they went in the portal they were ranked higher (5* or 4*) after signing with UK now the class there has 0 5* and only 4 4* signers.

Funny how that happens isn’t it. I mean it always happened who’s our high school recruits as well. I believe the new staff is going to change a lot about that sort of stuff.

[Jaxcat]

Hard to limit incoming as you might lose 80 (if coach leaves and such or bad year). But I think there needs to be several changes to portal. If Football does like basketball and guys that leave for NFL, do not make a team could be picked up again by any team. That would really start killing college football.

I understand your point and it's valid. But, a team might lose ALL of their players? That would be about 5 standard deviations from the norm (so, you're saying there's a chance...), wouldn't it? NONE of the current players would stay? They all are staying because of the HC - not the proximity to home, not them being a lifelong fan, not for the girlfriend they have, not for loving the school/major, etc.? I think there would surely be some that would stick around. Why would a kid on the squad 2nd or 3rd team leave if all the guys ahead of him leave? And what sort of demand would there be for a kid who hasn't played a down and is 3rd string somewhere?

I wonder if incoming transfers were limited to, let's say, 25, wouldn't the SUPPLY of transfer players most likely drop, i.e., the number entering the portal decrease? If players knew that potential suitors could only accept X number of transfers, I believe fewer would opt to transfer because there would be a greater chance of not being picked up by a 'better' situation and be left out in the cold. Especially those first couple of years when it becomes known that some players who entered the portal were not picked up by any school. The alternative for those players would be to return to their original school (probably just a bit awkward at that point, huh?) or move down a division. According to the 'net, 3972 FBS players entered the transfer portal. That equates to almost 30/team. Couple that with those who graduate, lose their eligibility or decide to quit (usually due to injury) and the 'average' team has to replace roughly half their players. That's bad for the sport, imo. And it's obviously leading to whoever can spend the most money can have the best team or at the very least a playoff team. No guarantee, of course, but the teams with the higher payrolls have generally been the ones in the playoff (not necessarily the HIGHEST, but certainly higher than average).

In OkSt's situation, they'd have approximately 30-35 players who opted to stay, 15-20 HS FR and 25 transfers. That's 70 or so players, which is >>> than most teams use in a season anyway (at least in non-patsy games). That's 3 full teams plus a few specialists. Would be difficult competing with a reduced roster but it can and has been done. By the second year, they'd almost assuredly be at full strength again.

[Pobilly]

I understand your point and it's valid. But, a team might lose ALL of their players? That would be about 5 standard deviations from the norm (so, you're saying there's a chance...), wouldn't it? NONE of the current players would stay? They all are staying because of the HC - not the proximity to home, not them being a lifelong fan, not for the girlfriend they have, not for loving the school/major, etc.? I think there would surely be some that would stick around. Why would a kid on the squad 2nd or 3rd team leave if all the guys ahead of him leave? And what sort of demand would there be for a kid who hasn't played a down and is 3rd string somewhere?

I wonder if incoming transfers were limited to, let's say, 25, wouldn't the SUPPLY of transfer players most likely drop, i.e., the number entering the portal decrease? If players knew that potential suitors could only accept X number of transfers, I believe fewer would opt to transfer because there would be a greater chance of not being picked up by a 'better' situation and be left out in the cold. Especially those first couple of years when it becomes known that some players who entered the portal were not picked up by any school. The alternative for those players would be to return to their original school (probably just a bit awkward at that point, huh?) or move down a division. According to the 'net, 3972 FBS players entered the transfer portal. That equates to almost 30/team. Couple that with those who graduate, lose their eligibility or decide to quit (usually due to injury) and the 'average' team has to replace roughly half their players. That's bad for the sport, imo. And it's obviously leading to whoever can spend the most money can have the best team or at the very least a playoff team. No guarantee, of course, but the teams with the higher payrolls have generally been the ones in the playoff (not necessarily the HIGHEST, but certainly higher than average).

In OkSt's situation, they'd have approximately 30-35 players who opted to stay, 15-20 HS FR and 25 transfers. That's 70 or so players, which is >>> than most teams use in a season anyway (at least in non-patsy games). That's 3 full teams plus a few specialists. Would be difficult competing with a reduced roster but it can and has been done. By the second year, they'd almost assuredly be at full strength again.

The chance is very, very, extremely remote to lose all but now we are are talking 105 and not 85. So I added more in a worst case scenario. It would probably be more like 50 in an extreme case for sure. But teams adding 50+ incoming right now, if I played in today's college football and had a coach bring in 50+ guys from the portal, I would leave even if it was my hometown team as he coach has no faith in the players there or loyalty they are asking the players to have. I do agree with you but maybe on a % basis of a team.. Just because a team can have 105 does not mean they carry 105.

Say 30% of your current roster you can add (roster average for he year). Team carrying 90 guys can add 30 type of thing. Currently in the portal is still 1200 players. It would drop but still have a major amount of guys that probably never get a new team or have to go down a division.

[wildcatdon]

Carr is a Cat.

[bthaunert]

For comparison, here is where our portal class was ranked the past few four years since the portal really started cooking according to 247:

2026 - 9th
2025 - 10th
2024 - 21st
2023 - 14th

We have always done a cent job with the portal from a rankings perspective. We haven't always done a great job from a position of need perspective and more recently from a NIL perspective in terms of who we gave the most money too.

[Jaxcat]

^What we discovered, after the fact, was our previous staff was lacking in evaluation skills. Way too many 'key' transfers just didn't pan out. We'll see if Stein and staff are better at evaluation. As we've seen, just because a player is a former 4- or 5-star recruit who hasn't played much for another school, doesn't mean they'll perform to that level once inserted into the lineup.

[UKSanders]

Yeah, this is the only portal window now (Did a quick internet check). I think if a coach leaves or fired, then that teams players have 30 days to enter into a portal (at any time during the winter, spring, and summer.

Good catch... I didn't realize that. Honestly, as much as I think transfers should have more limitations than they currently do, it seems kinda dumb that they cannot transfer during the time of year that it would be the easiest (summer break) vs the chaos that occurs during the short winter break.

[Pobilly]

Good catch... I didn't realize that. Honestly, as much as I think transfers should have more limitations than they currently do, it seems kinda dumb that they cannot transfer during the time of year that it would be the easiest (summer break) vs the chaos that occurs during the short winter break.

My bet is coaches squashed that. If a guy had a great spring and with all the info now online and on TV about spring football, then poaching the best of the best after spring would even be more chaos than we have now. Take a guy like the LB we got from Texas Barnes, has a great spring he from Jan through May and as soon as classes are out has Kirby, Lane and so forth offering huge bucks.