Kyle Whittingham Explains How Utah Football Retains Players In Transfer Portal Era
Mar 3, 2022, 5:06 PM
Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes holds a rose after the PAC-12 Football Championship football game against the Oregon Ducks at Allegiant Stadium on December 03, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Utah Utes won 38-10. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – It’s no secret that the transfer portal has become a big thing for college football but Utah football has been able to keep their top players in the program.
Every program will have players enter the portal but Utah football is among the top programs in the power-five ranks with the least amount of players entering the transfer portal.
Some coaches around the country are probably wondering why Utah and these other schools are able to keep most of their roster intact. Whittingham talked about that with Hans and Scotty G. on The Zone Sports Network on Thursday afternoon. You can listen to the full interview, below.
“I think our retention really speaks to the culture here,” Whittingham told Hans Olsen. “I think the vast majority of our players are very happy here and like what goes on in the program. We’re still not out of the woods. After spring ball, you’re gonna see another spike in the transfer portal, we track it ever since the advent of the portal, and there’s just certain times of the year where it does spike, the people that are going into the portal, one of those times is after spring ball when guys maybe didn’t come out of spring where they hoped to be and maybe think they got an opportunity somewhere else. But we have had good retention. They’re excited to be in the program and like the direction that we’re going and we just got a good vibe that really comes from the players and caring about each other, loving each other and that’s really where it all starts.”
Utah Among Top P-5 Programs Will Highest Retention Rate In Transfer Portal Era
Rivals has a section that is solely dedicated to the transfer portal. They have recently put out some statistics on the transfer portal that is very intriguing. Since August 1, 2021, Utah is one of 15 power-five schools to have less than 10 scholarship players enter the portal.
Utah joins Cal, Oregon State, Washington, Georgia, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech, NC State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State.
List of P5 schools that have had less than 10 scholarship players enter the portal since 8/1
Cal
Oregon State
Utah
Washington
Georgia
Texas A&M
Baylor
Texas Tech
NC State
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Iowa
Michigan
Northwestern
Penn State— NCAA Transfer Portal (@RivalsPortal) February 25, 2022
Other analytics from Rivals on the transfer portal, included players that entered the transfer portal that found new schools, committed to another P5 school, committed to a group of five school, committed to an FCS or Division II program or remain in the portal.
In the Pac-12 since August 1, 2021:
- 56.2% found new schools
- 51.2% of players committed to a P5 school
- 30.9% of players committed to a G5 school
- 17.9% of players committed to FCS/DII school
- 63 players remain in the portal
Utah football will begin spring ball on March 22 with the annual red/white game taking place on April 23 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com, Co-Host of Faith, Family and Football podcast with Clark Phillips III and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.
