Mark my words: the elimination of the spring portal window is going to create a massive, unprecedented wave of post-spring practiec transfers next January, and programs that aren't preparing their boards right now will get left in the dust. Everyone is talking about the circus at Colorado and Oklahoma State, the 50-man overhauls, but that was the old year. The real chess move is happening in quiet offices right now, evaluating the guys who lose their spring battles but have no escape hatch until winter. For us at Central Arkansas, and every program in our tier, this is the single most critical strategic shift we've ever faced. The crystal ball for a kid who gets passed on the depth chart in April used to light up immediately. Now, he's stuck, festering, for eight more months. That's eight months of NIL collectives at bigger schools whispering in his ear, eight months of him watching film from his would-be new scheme, eight months of pent-up frustration that will explode the second that winter window cracks open.
Our entire evaluation process has to flip. We can't just scout the portal when it's open. We have to be scouting spring game film from Power Four schools in real time, identifying the second-string safety at an SEC school who got burned on a coverage bust, or the third-string guard at a Big Ten program who got pushed around but has the frame we can develop. Those are our future croots. The 247 composite won't tell you their names yet, but our board has to. It's about building relationships now, so when that kid from, say, a lower-tier P4 program decides he wants to be a star in the Big South-OVC, we're the first call he makes. We're not competing with Georgia for a flip. We're competing with every other FCS program and G5 school for the attention of a guy who just realized he's not getting on the field where he's at.
This is where NIL, even at our level, becomes the ultimate separator. The bagman talk is gross, but it's the reality. When that talented backup from a place like Indiana, looking for playing time after their title run depleted the roster, hits the portal, he's going to have twenty offers in a day. The programs that have organized their ...