West Virginia along with college athletic programs across the board are going to have to deal with a series of changes after the D1 Council approved multiple adjustments.
When it comes to the transfer portal, the windows have been cut down from 60 to 45-days in both major sports.
The window for football will now only be 30-days in the winter beginning Dec. 4 and then a second would be open for 15-days in the second half of April.
The reasons for this are obvious as it cuts down on the window for players to leave but also data suggests that 61-percent of transfers occurred within the first 30-days.
In basketball, the window would open for 45-days the Monday following selection Sunday.
The transfer portal is a database that allows players to enter their names into it and give schools the opportunity to contact them. Once a player informs compliance that they intend to transfer that school has 48-hours to enter them into the database.
Another major adjustment in football is that the council voted to eliminate the annual limit on initial counters which at the football bowl subdivision level was 25. The sport had been operating under a waiver as a result of the uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic but this will not be permanent.
On the surface, it is a positive in some ways as it allows for programs now to backfill any of their losses up to 85-scholarships. But it also opens the door for teams to completely retool their rosters in the mold of Colorado this past year and open the door for teams to come in and try to poach others.
It’s going to be an interesting case study for how rosters will be constructed in the future and now with no threat of not being able to fill slots teams could approach their own teams differently as well.
There also has been legislation introduced to effectively prohibit photoshoots for prospects on unofficial visits which has become a major time consuming issue for college football staffers. That would extend to both the visiting players and those that accompany them during unofficial trips.
That last part is critical as it would still be permitted on official visits, which is more of a snapshot of the top targets for each college football program. The amount of time that has been spent undertaking these photoshoots for all prospects has become a real issue for programs so this helps to correct that.
It is unclear if the same can be said for basketball at this stage.
This won’t prohibit a parent from taking a picture on a visit, but will eliminate those professional opportunities presented by the schools which has become a central part of unofficial trips.
This will still need to be approved, but it something to keep an eye on moving forward.
College sports continues to evolve and this is just the latest series of steps.
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