College football transfer portal window, explained: What to know about new rules eliminating spring period

Daniel Mader

•
College football transfer portal window, explained: What to know about new rules eliminating spring period image

Rob Schumacher

More changes are coming to the college football calendar.

Between recruiting, the transfer portal, the new-look College Football Playoff and more, there have been some sweeping changes made to the calendar in recent years, resulting some particularly busy windows for coaches. But as of Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Administration Committee reportedly approved some new dates and rules that may make things slightly less complicated.

According to On3, the spring transfer portal in college football is being eliminated, with the intention of having just one portal window for players to make moves to new squads.

📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp

Here's what to know about the reported changes coming to college football's transfer portal.

MORE: Projecting the CFP bracket after Week 3

New college football transfer portal window, explained

Previously, there were two windows for a college football player to transfer: One was a 20-day period in December, and the other was a 10-day period in April. Those 30 days typically resulted in the biggest-name players being on the move in December, even if their teams were still in playoff contention, while there were fewer "star" players on the move in the spring.

Under the new reported changes, the spring window would be no longer, partially with the goal to have more team stability in the spring and less to worry about in that time frame.

The NCAA Division I Administration Committee reportedly approved the elimination of the spring transfer portal Wednesday and will be moving to a single transfer portal window. 

The new window's intention is to "allow schools to finish their season with their entire team before the transfer portal opens," per On3. 

Additionally, under the proposed changes, players on teams that are still playing in the postseason beyond Jan. 7 "may provide written transfer notification during a consecutive-five-day period beginning the day after their team's final postseason contest."

According to the NCAA, another part of the potential changes is making December a "recruiting dead period," meaning coaches cannot have "on- or off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations" but are permitted to be in contact with recruits.

There have been both supporters and critics of a potential one-time portal, with the Big Ten being "the lone Power Four conference to not support the move," per On3.

Washington head coach Jedd Fisch recently spoke on why he's against a Jan. 2-11 portal, saying that it results in preparations for negotiations starting in December.

MORE: SEC overreactions - Georgia owns Tennessee, Marcel Reed for Heisman

When will the college football transfer portal be?

After much deliberation, the new transfer window dates have been determined and approved by the D1 Administrative Committee. Moving forward, the transfer portal window will be January 2 to 16. 

MORE: How much will UT regret loss in SEC, CFP races?

Can players still transfer after a coach is fired?

There is another key distinction in the new transfer portal window rules: if a head coach is fired, players will still have a 30-day window to transfer regardless of the timing.

That means for teams like Virginia Tech and UCLA, which both fired their head coaches just a few weeks into the 2025 season, the calendar changes will not affect players' ability to transfer away in the immediate future.

Daniel Mader

Daniel Mader is a Content Producer for The Sporting News. He joined SN in 2024 as an editorial intern following graduation from Penn State University. He has previously written for Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, the Centre Daily Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Daily Collegian and LancasterOnline. Daniel grew up in Lancaster, Penn., with a love for baseball that’ll never fade, but could also talk basketball or football for days.