By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:
THE PORTAL IS HERE TO STAY, BUT IT NEEDS TWEAKING IN THE WORST WAY
All things considered, the Florida Gators are real winners when it comes to the NCAA transfer portal. Sure, the Gators lost seven players to the portal including starting linebackers Ty’Ron Hopper (Missouri) and Mohamoud Diabate (Utah) along with receivers Jacob Copeland (Maryland) and Kemore Gamble (UCF), but Billy Napier countered with five transfers who have already enrolled and all five could either start or factor prominently in 2022.
Quarterback Jack Miller III (Ohio State), offensive linemen O’Cyrus Torrence and Kamryn Waites (both from Louisiana), corner Jalen Kimber (Georgia) and running back Montrell Johnson (Louisiana) certainly won’t be the only transfers Napier adds to the Florida roster. Since the Gators have 87 currently on scholarship when you add in the eight high school kids signed on Wednesday, there will have to be some attrition to get the number to the NCAA mandated 85 scholarship limit. Since attrition has become fairly normal now that the transfer rules have been tweaked to allow a first time transfer immediate eligibility, it’s safe to expect Napier will lose a few on his roster once spring football concludes in April so he should have no problems bringing in replacements without going over the scholarship limit.
That Florida has a net loss of two players so far makes UF one of the more successful programs in all of Division I. Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reports that more than 1,400 players have entered the NCAA transfer portal since August 1, 2021, which is an average of more than 10 per school in NCAA Division I. Less than half the transfers have found a new school. In the SEC, both Florida and Texas A&M lost only seven players while South Carolina and Georgia lost eight each. Everybody else lost at least 12 with Ole Miss topping the list with 19. The Rebels have brought in 11 but that is a net loss of eight. Sixteen have transferred out of Alabama and only three have transferred in.
Because so many players are putting their names in the portal, the entire recruiting landscape is changing. The NCAA waiver which allows schools to replace one-for-one as many as seven outgoing transfers who leave after December 15 without counting against the 85-scholarship limit means schools can effectively sign 32 players in this recruiting cycle. In Florida’s case, since the Gators signed 17 high school kids and has five transfers enrolled, Napier could sign another 10 transfers. Seventeen high school kids and 15 transfers doesn’t seem like an effective way to build a program, but it worked last year for Mel Tucker. He added more than 20 via the transfer portal and Michigan State went from one of the worst teams in the Big Ten to a New Year’s Six bowl participant.
What Tucker did and what Florida and others will do with transfers in this recruiting cycle doesn’t necessarily bode well for the long range health of college football but they are only doing what the rules and circumstances allow. There are issues that should be addressed, among them when players should be allowed to enter the portal. Several coaches have raised eyebrows and their voices at players transferring a few games into a season. Imagine a starting QB who has a nasty disagreement with his offensive coordinator or head coach five games into a season when his team is unbeaten. In a fit, he quits on his team and transfers out. It could and probably will happen at some point in the very near future.
There is no way that we’re going to see a return to the old transfer rules where a player has to sit out, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a few tweaks. Here are my suggestions to improve the transfer situation.
1. Freshmen shouldn’t be allowed to transfer until they’ve been on campus for one season.
2. Any player who transfers with less than a 2.5 GPA and who isn’t academically on track has to sit a year.
3. There should be two transfer windows for immediate eligibility: From the Sunday after the conference championships until the first Monday after January 1 and from May 1 until May 31.
4. Since the NCAA transfer portal exists for all sports, transfer windows should be put in place for each sport.
5. Change the signing rules to prevent one school from being decimated by transfers after a coach leaves for a new job or is fired. The simple thing to do is have separate signing for transfers. If a school loses 10 transfers, then they should be allowed to replace those 10 without them counting against the 25 scholarship limit.
KELLY RAE STRIKES AGAIN!
For the fourth time since January 6, Kelly Rae Finley coached the Florida women’s basketball team to a win over a ranked opponent. This one was 7th-ranked Tennessee, which came into the O-Dome Thursday night averaging more than 20 rebounds per game more than its opponents. The Lady Vols (17-3, 7-2 SEC) had a serious size advantage over the Gators, but it didn’t seem to matter. Florida (16-6, 6-3 SEC) outrebounded the Lady Vols, 40-38, forced 18 turnovers that were turned into 26 points and held UT leading scorer Jordan Horston (16 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists) to five points, three rebounds and one assist while committing six turnovers and shooting 2-9. The Gators neutralized 6-6 Tiari Key, holding her to eight points.
Coming into the game, the Gators were 4-54 lifetime against the Lady Vols and none of the four wins was by nine or more points. Kiki Smith led the Gators with 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Also in double figures for the Gators were Nina Rickards with 16, Jordyn Merritt with 13 and Zippy Broughton with 10.
The Gators, who are in a four-way tie for third place in the SEC, travel to Athens Sunday to face 14th-ranked Georgia (17-4, 6-3 SEC).
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL
Alabama: Alabama is planning to replace Coleman Coliseum with a $183 million facility that will seat 10,136 … “Alabama Athletics is aware of the incident involving Pete Golding. We are mindful of the seriousness of the situation and will continue to gather more information to address this personnel matter” reads a statement released after defensive coordinator Pete Golding was arrested and charged with driving under the influence … Punter Ty Perine has withdrawn his name from the NCAA transfer portal and will instead retire from football.
Arkansas: Since starting out the SEC portion of their schedule 0-3, the Hogs have reeled off seven straight wins including six in league play.
Auburn: ESPN’s Greg McElroy, commenting on the sudden resignation by former offensive coordinator Austin Davis, said, “Based on what I’ve gathered, Austin Davis was unfit for the position and was going to be relieved of his duties if he didn’t step down.” McElroy offered no specifics. Davis has said his resignation was for purely “personal reasons.” … In Auburn’s 100-81 win over Alabama Tuesday night 7-1 Walker Kessler had 14 points, 12 rebounds eight blocked shots and four steals. Kessler ranks second nationally in blocked shots at 4.23 per game. As a team the Tigers lead the country with 8.1 blocked shots per game.
FLORIDA: In his last six games, Tyree Appleby is averaging 15.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Over that stretch he’s hitting 43.1 percent of his 3-pointers and he’s 29-31 from the foul line (93.5 percent).
Georgia: New wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon will be paid $700,000 per year, which is $150,000 more than Georgia was paying former WR coach Cortez Hankton ... It is being reported that Kirby Smart has targeted TCU assistant Chidera Uzo-Diribe as the new outside linebackers coach.
Kentucky: Now that the Wildcats (18-4, 7-2 SEC) have risen to No. 5 in the latest AP basketball poll, they have to be particularly leery of Saturday’s opponent. Alabama (14-8, 4-5 SEC). The same Crimson Tide which lost to Georgia has wins over Gonzaga, Houston and Baylor when they were ranked in the top ten … Center Oscar Tshiebwe leads the country in rebounding at 15.2 per game.
LSU: Point guard Xavier Pinson is still not ready to return from a knee injury. Wade says Pinson is about 70 percent recovered and Wade says he needs to be at least 85 percent before he’s effective enough to give the Tigers (16-6, 4-5) some minutes.
Mississippi State: Discussing the NCAA transfer portal, Mike Leach said, “I think it’s fair to say it’s a mess. At some point we’re gonna have to sort it out so that it’s not a series of explosions all over the place. They said we’ll do this so you don’t have to be at it all year, and now they have assured that you’re at it all year. Some of the guys who make the rules can’t resist changing the rules.”
Missouri: Eli Drinkwitz says Missouri will always build its football program on high school recruits but says the transfer portal has changed the number of high school recruits he expects to sign. “I think right now it’s going to be 18 to 20 every year from high school and then the rest is from the portal.”
Ole Miss: Freshman point guard Daeshun Ruffin, who lit the Gators up for 21 points a couple of weeks ago, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Rebels (12-10, 3-6 SEC) win over No. 25 LSU Tuesday night. The Rebels face Florida in Gainesville Saturday.
SEC Basketball
Saturday’s games: Ole Miss (12-10, 3-6 SEC) at FLORIDA (14-8, 4-5 SEC); No. 1 Auburn (21-1, 9-0 SEC) at Georgia (6-16, 1-8 SEC); No. 22 Tennessee (15-6, 6-3 SEC) at South Carolina (13-8, 4-5 SEC); Missouri (8-13, 2-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-7, 2-5 SEC); No. 25 LSU (16-6, 4-5 SEC) at Vanderbilt (11-10, 3-6 SEC); No. 5 Kentucky (18-4, 7-2 SEC) at Alabama (14-8, 4-5 SEC); Mississippi State (14-7, 5-3 SEC) at Arkansas (17-5, 6-3 SEC)
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Writing at Saturday Down South, Matt Hayes throws out the possibility that former Florida head coach Dan Mullen could be the next reclamation project at St. Nick’s Rehab Center for Wayward Coaches. With speculation rampant that Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien will return to his NFL roots as the offensive coordinator for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, Hayes points out that Mullen might be a logical choice.
Hayes writes, “An obvious move would be hiring former Florida and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen. Saban spoke at length last season about Mullen’s offenses and how they’re difficult to defend because of their unique concepts and Mullen’s play calling.”
Although the Alabama offense averaged 39.9 points and 488.2 yards per game in 2021 when quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy, there were games (see Florida, LSU and Georgia) when the play calling seemed too predictable so Saban might be looking for someone whose offenses tend to adjust well to whatever the opposing defense is doing. The perfect example might be the 2020 SEC Championship Game when Mullen and the Gators lit up Alabama for 462 yards and 46 points. If the Florida defense could have gotten a couple of stops, the Gators could have knocked off the eventual national champions.
A couple of years working for Saban could restore some of the lost luster for Mullen, whose final season at Florida still has everyone asking at what point did he check out? It is no secret that Mullen’s eventual goal is the NFL. A couple of years in the wash at St. Nick’s could be the next step toward reaching that goal.
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