Onto
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NCAA athletes take advantage of the Transfer Portal
C
urrent high school students like
those at Roberson are facing
more challenges getting recruited
by college sports teams than ever. Since
the implementation of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association’s Transfer
Portal on October 15, 2018, alongside the
COVID-19 pandemic taking away sport
seasons for many athletes in the 2020-2021
school years, a large portion of college
student-athletes have an extra year of
eligibility to continue playing their sport.
With some seniors choosing to play their
sport that extra year, there are less spots
available on college sports teams for the
graduating high school class of 2023.
This past cycle, the NCAA Transfer
Portal was open from December 5, 2022
to January 18, 2023. During the open
time periods, which there are a few of
throughout the year, athletes who are
looking to transfer have to notify the
program’s staff and coaches at their school
that they are looking to transfer, and then
the school they are currently at has two
business days to enter their name into the
portal. Once in the portal, new coaches
can begin contacting the athletes, and the
athletes can begin reaching out to new
coaches.
Abby Kreuger graduated from TC
Roberson in 2018 and went on to play
Division I Volleyball as an Outside Hitter
at Wake Forest University. After spending
four years at Wake Forest, Kreuger decided
that it was time to move on to something
new. “I was looking for playing time and
photos/ABBY KREUGER/courtesy
INTO THE PORTAL: Abby Kreuger
enters the NCAA Transfer Portal
to fulfill her “fifth-year” eligibility.
18 | January 2023 // @GFMEDIAGROUP
by LYDIAKAMPE | Editor in Chief
general team and coaching satisfaction,”
said Kreuger. At the end of her fourth
year at Wake, Abby transferred to UNC
Charlotte for her COVID-19 eligibility.
The NCAA Transfer Portal is a great
tool for NCAA athletes like Kreuger to
find a place where they better enjoy the
sport they are playing. Everyone thrives
in different environments, and student-
athletes don’t always end up in the perfect
place the first time. Donovan “Puff ”
Johnson is a junior on the UNC Chapel
Hill basketball team, and his older brother,
Cameron Johnson, took advantage of
the NCAA Transfer Portal several times
throughout his collegiate basketball career.
Now, Cameron plays in the NBA for the
Phoenix Suns. Seeing how it affected
his brother, Puff is a strong believer in
the portal. “I was big into feeling like
everyone, no matter what situation they’re
in, should be able to transfer,” said Puff. “If
coaches can get up and leave after one year,
what makes it different for the players?”
While the NCAA Transfer Portal has
its many benefits, athletes can also use the
portal in less respectable manners, such as
impulsively quitting on their team mid-
season. Once an athlete says they want to
enter the portal, no one is really allowed
to stop them no matter their reasoning.
“The hardest/only obstacle is getting the
go ahead from compliance to enter and
having an awkward conversation with your
coaches,” said Kreuger.
Because of the simplicity of the
process, it’s tempting for many unhappy
photo/breakout finder
or extraordinarily talented athletes to use.
For coaches, it can become somewhat of
a weapon. When they see these skilled
athletes in the portal who are looking
to transfer, they can just pull from
them rather than looking at the current
recruiting high school class. Coaches can
end up creating a team full of prodigies
rather than aiming to foster younger talent.
While this can be extremely beneficial to
current collegiate athletes, it can be equally
upsetting to seniors who have dreamt of
furthering their athletic career in college.
After being hit by the pandemic in
2020, many collegiate athletes were
granted one extra year of eligibility for the
impacted seasons. While the typical time
of eligibility is four years, college students
can continue playing for a “fifth year” for
reasons such as that COVID-19 year or
redshirting in their freshman season. Abby
Kreuger has used that extra COVID-19
year at UNC Charlotte, and technically has
one more year of eligibility for redshirting.
For Abby Kreuger and Cameron
Johnson, the NCAA Transfer Portal was
a tool to get them to a place where they
were happy and successful. However, the
portal has made the world of college sports
largely shift from a four-year cycle to
something far more complex. High schools
around the country are seeing these
changes as the senior recruiting classes
have become smaller than ever. Will more
boundaries be set for the portal, or will it
continue to reshape the world of collegiate
sports as we know it?
OUT OF THE PORTAL: Abby
Kreuger exits the portal onto
UNC Charlotte’s volleyball team.
photo/PROSPECTIVE/wordpress
Graphics & Design | Lydia Kampe