Gets me about this spring practice season watching all these new faces come through the portal and hearing about Seydou Traore working with Travis Kelce's coach to chase an NFL dream. Good for him, I guess, but it just reminds me how this whole sport has turned into a free agent marketplace instead of a place where you build something. Back in the early 80s when Coach Dooley was still roaming the sideline, you recruited a kid from south Georgia, he stayed four years, he graduated, and then maybe he got a shot at the league. There was no shopping around every December like you're picking out produce at the grocery store.
Now we sit here in April of 2026 and the roster looks different every time I blink. I look at what Colorado did with 43 transfers and what Oklahoma State did with 50 new faces and I just shake my head. You cannot tell me that builds any kind of culture. Culture comes from eating meals together in the same cafeteria for three years. It comes from getting your tail whipped in the fourth quarter of a night game in Starkville and remembering that feeling the next August. It comes from knowing the guy next to you in the huddle is gonna be there next year too.
I remember when we had walk-ons who would rather die than put on another jersey. Guys who grew up wanting to be a Bulldog since they were ten years old and would have turned down a scholarship to Alabama just to wear the red and black. Now every spring there's a new quarterback competition because somebody's agent whispered in their ear about NIL money somewhere else. The portal window just got eliminated for spring which is the smartest thing the NCAA has done in a decade but it's too little too late if you ask me.
We landed a five star tight end in Kaiden Prothro and that's great, I'm not complaining about talent. But I want to see him in the same uniform for four years. I want to see him develop into a leader like the old days. Not stick around for one season and then jump to whoever offers the biggest bag. The NFL draft is happening right now and half the guys getting picked barely played two full seasons in college. Monroe Freeling is in that draft class and I remember when he was a freshman thinking he'd be the anchor for years. Instead he's gone and we're plugging in another portal guy.
This is what the sport has become. A rental service. And I hate it.