The transfer portal has ruined college football. As the transfer portal has been used more frequently this past offseason, it has made the National Collegiate Athletic Association look like a bidding war.

Names such as Justin Fields, Austin Kendall, Tate Martell and more who were four- and five-star athletes out of high school, left a university simply because they did not want to compete for a starting position.

Most players who have played and graduated after three or four years, then decide to transfer will have immediate eligibility for their new team. Any player who did not meet these requirements and decided to transfer had to sit out at least one year.

The transfer portal now allows athletes who are unhappy with their role, coach, teammate or the university can talk to their administrator and be placed in the transfer portal within two business days.

It allows coaches from other schools to basically recruit the following prospects and entice them to transfer to a school. Most of these coaches land prospects on outlandish comments and foolish promises.

Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma head coach, promised backup five-star quarterback, Austin Kendall and incoming five-star QB Spencer Rattler he would not accept any transfer QB’s from the portal, according to Rattler. Lincoln said he would let the two battle it out when Rattler got to campus. He accepted Jalen Hurts days after the promise was made to the two young QBs, which caused Austin Kendall to transfer, because who wants to compete right?

Now college coaches not only have to recruit high school players to their program but yet have to recruit their own players to stay on the team and not to transfer to the grass that is supposedly greener on the other side.

While coaches recruit, they will have to be careful with how many four- and five-star players they have commit. If they stockpile too many, they might lose them in the near future when they would be a necessity for the program’s future. When athletes could only transfer after they had graduated, coaches could load up on every top recruit and hold them until they had a need for that certain player.

It disgusts me to see talented young players, such as Justin Fields, not grow through a program with talented coaches and compete for a starting role. It shows how the tenacity and competition in football has vanished in thin air. Everyone wants to win, but no one wants to compete to win. They want to join the next big team and guide them to a national championship.

The transfer portal makes college football seem like the NFL now because they add basically a free agency period. Every coach gets to throw their hat into the circle for the top prospects in the market just like the athletes in the NFL, who get paid money, and lots of it.

None of these college players get paid. Is that what is next for athletes to transfer to a program? Is that what will keep them at their own university to compete? The game is changing but not in the best of ways.