ATHENS — The effects of the new and soon-to-be-current transfer portal are expected to be minimal in the University of Georgia sports programs.
The transfer window — which starts next Monday and runs through Aug. 5 — was issued by the NCAA D1 Committee for Legislative Relief — will provides relief for athletes who could be cut as a result of the roster restrictions that will ultimately go into place.
Georgia athletics director Josh Brooks said earlier this year the Bulldogs’ athletic programs — like the vast majority of others — had taken a proactive approach with roster management in anticipation of the settlement terms of roster restrictions going into place on July 1.
Judge Claudia Wilken, as part of the approval of House settlement terms, stipulated the roster restrictions be implemented over time.
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The agreed upon stipulation was that schools would have the option to keep current players on their rosters and temporarily exceed new limits — for football, the number was 105 — until their eligibility expires.
Per Yahoo Sports reporter Ross Dellenger, the blanket waiver for transfer has its own stipulations:
• Only Designated Student-Athletes (DSA) — athletes who would have been grandfathered into extended roster presence exempt from roster limits — are eligible to enter the portal.
• It is at the respective schools’ discretion to determine which players are identified as DSA. Per Dellenger, the schools have agreed to “act in good faith.”
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• The DSA athletes would carry their tag on to another school, making them exempt from roster limits at their new school
• An athlete could be designated a DSA if they were removed from a roster as a result of the new scholarship limits, further, they would have need to have been an eligible member of the 2024-25 season or have been recruited and guaranteed a spot (through scholarship) on the 2025-26 roster.
• The DSA maintains the roster exemption until their eligibility runs out
• Schools have to identify and submit a lit of their respective DSA’s before the portal window opens on Monday.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart isn’t likely to see much, if any action on his roster, as he explained how he had maintained open communication with potential DSAs leading up to the settlement.
“We’ve been very honest with our guys and told them; we told them that they were free to go in the portal,” Smart said at the SEC Spring Meetings in Miramar Beach, Fla, in May.
“And some have looked out and realized that that’s not necessarily the grass is greener because there’s not a lot of opportunities,” Smart said. “Everybody’s got a reduction of opportunities, so these kids that went in (to the portal before) had very few places to go.
“So a lot of them have come back and looking for their opportunity to return. We’ve prepared for that, and we’re prepared to go either way in terms of that.”
The next portal decision that figures to carry a great deal more weight is whether there will be one or two transfer portals after the 2025 season.
Smart and the SEC have advocated for one transfer window — from Jan. 2 to Jan. 12 — to better serve team building and player development.
The Big Ten have reportedly supported an April portal date in the interest of academic and financial calendar considerations.
Smart warned against the later portal date at the spring meetings.
“You think tampering is a problem? Put that portal in April and see what teams do in January, February, and March,” Smart said.
“I think it’s really important in football to have your team (be) your team at whatever date in January, whatever we decide that is, and then you work those guys out,” said Smart, who is entering his 10th year leading the program. “You train those guys, you lift, you prepare, you do meetings and all this preparation, and then that’s your team.”
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