Penn State's James Franklin voices opinion on NIL, transfers in college football

It's no secret that the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) has changed the landscape of college athletics — particularly college football.

It's a recent development, Penn State football coach James Franklin said, that doesn't necessarily bode well for the sport.

"We've been on a slippery slope for a while," Franklin said at his winter news conference on Tuesday. "The college football that we've all known, that's not coming back.

"I don't think (college football) is heading in the right direction, for anybody. Don't think it is right for players. Before coaches went too far and were limiting where players could transfer. (Now) they were abusing that. We went from one extreme to the other."

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Franklin also spoke at length about players' ability to transfer, and Penn State's involvement with the portal — even calling the Nittany Lions not as "big" of a transfer program during his tenure in State College.

This offseason Penn State added six "complementary" players through the portal, including Ohio State wide receiver Julian Fleming, Wisconsin offensive lineman Nolan Rucci, Georgia cornerback A.J. Harris, Florida cornerback Jalen Kimber, Tulsa kicker Chase Meyer and Wisconsin defensive end Jordan Mayer.

The Nittany Lions also lost six players to the portal this offseason as well.

"You can't tell me it's good for the student-athletes to transfer three, four times. Every time you transfer the likelihood of graduating goes down. I don’t think that’s in anybody’s best interest," Franklin said. "The ability to overcome adversity in college athletics is really important. I think we have lost some of that."

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Franklin added that, as NIL has become a bigger factor in college athletics, it has brought his biggest concern — "Having people leave college football that would have never left college football" — to the forefront.

Alabama's Nick Saban on Jan. 10 retired after a 17-year stint coaching the Crimson Tide. UCLA's Chip Kelly resigned as the Bruins' head coach to take an offensive coordinator position at Ohio State. Numerous other coaches have college football to take positions on NFL staffs.

"It's gotten further and further away from what they've signed up for," Franklin said. "Everyone knew you had to recruit to coach them, there was a balance between those two. (But) all these other things are taking you further away from developing and coaching these kids. And development is a word that isn't even used anymore."

Franklin, who is 88-39 in 10 seasons at Penn State, said he believes the newly formed Big Ten-SEC Advisory Committee is one of several ways those within college athletics can use to help bring college football back and help its student-athletes long-term.

"I love the fact that the Big Ten and SEC have stepped up to have significant leadership roles in this and using their voices," Franklin said. "We all know we have some tremendous challenges right now in college athletics as a whole, but specifically college football, so to see our conference and the SEC step up is really right now the only solution."

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State's James Franklin speaks out on college football transfers, NIL