2 weeks Ago
College football’s spring transfer portal window opens up today, paving the way for scores more players to pick up and get on the move to a new school in time for the 2025 season. Rosters are starting to take shape after spring practice, but teams are still on the lookout to add some valuable backups or even a starter or two. But if you’re an SEC team, you get a little extra protection at this time of year.
That’s because of a rule specific only to the Southeastern Conference that says players cannot transfer from one SEC school to another SEC school during the spring transfer portal window and also play immediately. That goes for all players, including graduate transfers, who otherwise get a little more leeway when it comes to NCAA rules. The SEC put the rule in place in order to prevent conference teams from engaging in any advanced-stage plundering against each other after spring football practice and so close to the season.
But it only applies to the spring portal window, meaning that players are still allowed to move within the SEC during the winter transfer period, when there’s more time for programs to recover from any sudden losses and integrate any newcomers. It all comes down to SEC bylaw (Rule 14.5.
5.1), which says..
. Two, in particular. 1.
College Football Playoff teams are awarded some special timing accommodations, and...
2. Head coach changes, giving players a 30-day window to transfer after a head coach departs their program, irrespective of the regular rules. Almost certainly not, unless former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava wants to sit out.
That’s another exception in place for any player looking to transfer within the SEC: they would have to sit out the entire season following their spring inter-conference move. That’s very unlikely to say the least, as Iamaleava looks to find a new starting role in 2025. But on the other hand, the Vols won’t be able to get his replacement from inside the SEC, either.
In an era where college football has almost completely stripped away any prior rules on a player’s freedom to switch schools, the SEC is keeping some restraint in place. - Read more from College Football HQ.
