Jake Smith was born a year too soon to enjoy ultimate college football freedom.
The Arizona State redshirt senior wide receiver is at his third school having transferred from both Texas and USC. He hasn’t seen the field since 2020 — first suffering a foot injury, then undergoing surgery before being denied a waiver appeal to play for the Sun Devils last season.
Tuesday marks the beginning of a new era for both Smith and college football. As the spring transfer portal window opens, players are allowed to transfer more than once without restriction thanks to a U.S. District Court injunction issued in December that blocks the NCAA from enforcing its rules against multi-time transfers.
“It’s hard to put into words. I can’t wait, really,” Smith said of the prospect of playing again.
Entering his sixth season, Smith, 23, knows there’d be no transfer issue if he were slightly younger; he would have been eligible last season. After all the legal wrangling and waiver appeals — be they for injury, mental health, proximity to grandma, etc. — there is unlimited freedom, at least for this semester. Smith is not the only one wishing transfer rules had been relaxed sooner.
Experts are predicting a flood of players entering the portal Tuesday for reasons that could range from being upset at playing time to hating the color of the wallpaper in their dorm room. They can change schools on a whim without roadblocks. For the first time, it’s totally up to them.
As the enterprise moves away from the educational component of college athletics, the question must be asked: What thread of academics tied to athletics will be left? Are players moving closer to majoring in football? We’re not necessarily talking about a degree program — although, who knows, maybe that’s in the cards — but eroding academic integrity in this transfer climate.
Athletes will continue to play. They will go to classes. But does it even matter anymore if they graduate?
“Quite frankly, they don’t care,” one Power Four AD said non-specifically. “They care, but [athlete] mobility and money is more important than graduation right now.”
It’s a long-proven fact that the more a student transfers, the less likely that person is to graduate. The NCAA has leaned into that philosophy for years while denying transfer freedom. Now, the courts have forced a change in that philosophy whether anyone likes it or not. A…
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