The Impact of the Transfer Portal

*Originally posted 5/8/2023

I have had this theory since we got into the club season and Triple Crown (2nd weekend of February) weekend started. It's certainly not written in stone as their are always TONS of variables and everyone's recruiting process is different. This does seem to be the general timeline though for D1 and D2 schools.

June 15th

There is a lot of buildup leading into the June 15th contact date and for good reason. It's the first time that college coaches (D1 and D2) can really speak directly to an athlete. It's a big deal because those first few phone calls in the days and weeks after set-up visits, offers and the next step in the recruiting process. June 15th is still a huge deal and it's something we talk a lot about with the sophomores as they go into their Junior year.

I do wonder though if June 15th will start to have less impact and meaning in the grand scheme of the recruiting process. There are currently PLENTY of uncommitted Juniors (almost seniors) and still plenty of schools still looking to fill holes in their rosters. The impact of the portal window opening on May 1st (The first day of the quiet period) I think certainly has an impact on the current process for juniors. Coaches are having to decide if they want to fill a need in 24 now with a high school athlete, or if they want to fill a spot in 23/24 with someone off the transfer portal.

Beginning of Fall

If you're an athlete going into the fall of your junior year, then you most likely had some contact with college coaches on June 15th. If you get to the start of your high school season and you don't have offers or visits planned, it might be slow going for you for a bit. A lot of that will depend on where you are in the process, where colleges are in the process and how much work you did in the previous club season to put yourself out there and get in front of college coaches. A college coach just told me. "If we don't get this setter committed that we offered, we will most likely just wait and see what happens in the portal after the fall season is over." That being said, I have seen several athletes move the ball forward throughout the fallI. It does take work and finding the right fit with the right school that has a need can be challenging.

It's challenging because we run into another portal window after the fall season. If coaches still have needs to fill in the next two fall seasons, they will immediately go look at the portal to fill those needs. Depending on their commitments from juniors and seniors at that point, they might be able to fill those needs from the portal. If they can't, or don't fill all their needs, then they will be back to looking at that junior class come the start of club season. This is something I think can be challenged on the athlete side if they do their due diligence in reaching out to the right schools throughout their high school season.

January/February

Now we are back to the start of club season. Schools that didn't fill all of their needs from the transfer portal will again be looking at the junior class. Usually this process can go pretty fast and visits and offers will happen once college coaches get the chance to watch athletes live again. This process will carry over into the "quiet period" in May. I have several athletes about to go into their senior year that are currently taking visits and several others have visits planned.

That's the cycle. Or at least how it looks to me from where I'm sitting.

Athletes going into their junior year get hit hard with communication, camps, visits and potentially offers at the beginning of the fall season. There's a potential to create interest in yourself throughout the fall, but there are a lot of coaches that will just go to the portal in the fall if they don't finish their needs with commitments. From there, juniors start their 17s club season and have another fairly large window to get recruited.

The portal impacts this process for high school athletes on all sides it feels like. Athletes starting their junior year of high school might be getting a lot of traction with some schools, but when the portal opens up again at the end of the calendar year, the school that had a need for a setter in two years, now needs one and is getting one for the upcoming fall. The ease and simplification of the transfer portal for college coaches makes it a HUGE variable going forward with high school athletes.

All of this to say - don't get discouraged. Variables are a constant in the recruiting world. It's why college coaches say they are "always recruiting"...because they are. You might be "done" with a class, but they are always looking for the next possible athlete to add to their roster. Just the amount of schools needing and asking about senior middles and setters in the last month has been crazy. There are always options to play college volleyball. Work hard. Stay consistent. The work that you're putting in right now to get in front of college coaches will pay off. Stick with it!

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