Even before addressing Utah running back Armand Shyne’s absence from spring football practice this week, coach Kyle Whittingham said the NCAA’s transfer portal has created “a different world.”
That’s true. The NCAA is easing the movement of athletes, no longer allowing schools to block them from transferring to certain programs, and the result is almost a college version of free agency. It is reaching the point where coaches probably should be judged by the players they’re acquiring, not just by the ones they’re losing.
With the apparent departures of Shyne and offensive tackle Mo Unutoa this week, Utah has had about a half-dozen players in the portal since the Holiday Bowl in late December.