As you set out the nachos and beer for what should be an exciting college football national championship game, give thought to the Ohio State and Notre Dame players who’ll take the field on Jan. 20. Their uniforms haven’t changed, but their relation to their universities definitely has. And that change, in turn, carries lessons for you.
This season is the first in which college football players can change alma maters freely in search of better playing opportunities and/or higher pay under the new Name, Image, Likeness arrangements. Before today’s Portal Era, universities for the most part enjoyed a four-year non-compete agreement with their so-called student athletes. That arrangement brought universities millions for a relative pittance in scholarship dollars.
Today, the transfer portal frees players to move out and up, enriching and impoverishing teams seemingly overnight. Thanks mainly to 31 transfers, Indiana University went from major college football’s historically worst-ever team to a spot in this season’s playoffs. Ohio State might not be in the championship if quarterback Will Howard hadn’t transferred from Kansas State.

Then there are cases that show how the portal enables players who were overlooked in high school with the opportunity to make a noticeable impact while in college. Consider Diego Pavia.
Regarded as too small, this Albuquerque high school star didn’t get a single scholarship offer from any NCAA Division I school. So, Pavia went to a junior college called New Mexico Military Institute and excelled there. Then he was recruited by New Mexico State took them to a bowl game. Two years later, Pavia transferred to Vanderbilt, leading the Commodores to an upset victory over mighty Alabama, coming within 3 points of beating Texas, and scoring five touchdowns in a bowl game. Now he’s considered a prospect in the NFL draft—something that would have been highly unlikely if he were unable to transfer.
Eliminating transfer restrictions have transformed college football. You could say LBM is going through a similar change as non-compete agreements get challenged and often abandoned.
Like it or not, LBM dealers have entered an era in which talented players possess more freedom to take their talents elsewhere—particularly if they have an opportunity to lead rather than be stuck on the bench at their current location. We can help you become the place where championship-level players want to come.
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Tony Misura