OXFORD — More transfer portal chaos is brewing, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin predicts.
At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Kiffin was asked whether he believes the spring transfer portal window ‒ set to begin on April 16 ‒ will be more active than we’ve seen in previous years. In the transfer portal era, the winter window has seen the bulk of the action.
Kiffin is bracing for that to change, he said.
“Obviously, because they can transfer multiple times,” Kiffin said. “Here, again, just a really stupid system. But, hey, good for the players ‒ maybe. It’s good for them financially. I don’t know that it’s really good for them that they can leave every time something goes wrong, they’re just gonna run no matter what.”
Ole Miss just signed the top transfer portal class in the country. Kiffin has constantly criticized college football’s transfer setup while acknowledging that the Rebels benefit from it more than most.
Speaking in the context of college football as a whole, rather than just his own program, Kiffin thinks there will be more examples of players transferring in the winter, collecting an NIL check, and then moving again in the spring for more money without having played a snap.
“Maybe it just happened with a high-profile player,” Kiffin said. “I’m going to go somewhere in January. I’m going to get their money. I’m going to have never played a down as a transfer, and I’m going to go back in right after spring ball into the portal and go somewhere else and get their money. So I mean, you can say yeah, good for the players, but is it?”
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Standout offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor transferred from Alabama to Iowa this winter. He is reportedly expected to leave the Hawkeyes and return to Tuscaloosa when the spring portal window opens. Iowa’s collective said Proctor received a partial NIL payment through a sponsorship with a business, but did not collect payments funded by fan contributions.
Kiffin said he doesn’t blame the players for exploiting what he views as a broken system. He he wants to see legislation that keeps players at a school for at least a season after transferring.
“I’ve brought it up at meetings,” Kiffin said. “…I’m like, ‘You better make something where you gotta sign for a year where all these portal players that after last season go in, at least they sign for one year, not one semester without playing in the offseason.’ Would that happen in the NFL?”
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Why Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin predicts transfer portal chaos
