Is transfer portal good for college football? What Peyton Manning and Eli Manning said
THIBODAUX, La. — Few quarterbacks are as synonymous with their former college football programs as Eli and Peyton Manning are with Ole Miss and Tennessee.
But as they stood beside their father Archie, an Ole Miss legend in his own right, and their brother Cooper to welcome reporters to the Manning Passing Academy on Friday, a sign of how the sport has changed since their departures filled the Century Room at Nicholls State’s Guidry Stadium.
The room was lined with quarterbacks representing programs where they didn’t start their college career. LSU’s Jayden Daniels came from Arizona State. Kentucky’s Devin Leary started at N.C. State. Illinois’ Luke Altmyer spent two years at Ole Miss. Michael Penix Jr. came to Washington via Indiana. Joe Milton III is set to start at Tennessee after a stint at Michigan.
“It wasn’t available back then, so it never was a thought,” Peyton Manning said of the transfer portal. “I understand certainly – look, if you get to a school and the coach that recruited you leaves and they change systems from the spread offense to the Wing-T, it makes sense.”
However, not every case in the portal is about a coaching change. While the opportunity to change scenery seems appropriate to Peyton Manning, the tendency to leave rather than stick around appears too common – exemplified by him saying a former MPA attendee now on his fourth school likely isn't having the best experience.
“I think the goal is to try to get it right the first time and to spend a lot of time making that decision,” Peyton Manning said. “At least for me, I was very thorough, took all my visits and really tried to analyze it. You pray about it. You make a decision, and you go all-in on that decision. There are lots of individual cases. I can’t speak for everybody. I want the kids to have a good college football experience.”
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Part of the portal equation falls on coaches who, along with recruiting high school and transfer talent, must retain the players already on their roster.
“That’s a stressor on college football coaches,” Peyton Manning said. “It’s just kind of the world we’re living in right now.”
Eli Manning, who went on to win two Super Bowls with the New York Giants after four years in Oxford, Mississippi, expressed a similar sentiment.
“There’s good and bad with it,” he said. “Giving opportunities for guys to find the right place to come in, to become a starter, to play football, to be there for a number of years – I’m happy to see that and that it’s working out.”
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Peyton Manning, Eli Manning discuss college football transfer portal
