From chaos to structure: Texas gets massive win with new transfer portal reform

The NCAA announced a major change to the transfer portal procedures for college football in 2026 and beyond.
UTEP v Texas
UTEP v Texas | Tim Warner/GettyImages

Yesterday, the NCAA decided to finally bring some organization and structure to the transfer portal process. The way things were, players could just transfer multiple times in multiple different transfer windows in both the fall and spring. Now it appears that things won't be as hectic as they were over the past two seasons. It actually looks like Texas and other schools are going to have the upper-hand with the new player limitations.

According to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger:

"The NCAA Administrative Committee decided today (9/17) to eliminate the spring football transfer portal window but left undecided the exact length and timing of a single fall portal window, sources tell . A decision on details of the fall window is expected within the month."

This is EXCELLENT news for the health of college football overall. Gone are the days where a player can transfer to one school for a month in the fall, and then immediately leave in the spring portal window. Having one transfer window available to athletes is how it should've always been, and it'll do wonders for the sport.

Though an additional, short transfer window was proposed by the FB Oversight Commitee, nothing has come of it so far.

As fans, having one window is also great because it's more of a "sure thing" when players commit to your school. It's incredibly hard to get to know your team when new players are cycling in and out every few months based on the transfer schedule.

This will also ensure that players who choose to switch schools, will have the right intentions at their new school. There are plenty of players right now who just transfer into a new program to "see what it's like" for a few months before transferring back out in the spring window. Now, if a player moves to a new school, they have to be all in with that school because that's where they're staying for at least the next football season.

The committee also made a couple of minor changes to the dead and contact periods for FBS schools and high school athletes going forward.

Overall, these new rules were made to help reduce the chaos of the college football offseason, and to give back some power to universities across the nation.