College football’s transfer portal windows are shrinking. How does that affect Utah?

College athletics is always changing, especially in its current era.
The newest development, approved Tuesday by the Division I Council? Shrinking the spring and fall transfer portals in college football.
Starting Dec. 9, which is the Monday after football conference championship games, the fall transfer window will open for 20 days until Dec. 28. The spring transfer window will now open on April 16 and close on April 25 — just 10 days.
It’s important to note that the time restrictions apply only to a player entering their name into the transfer portal, and that players can still choose a new school after the transfer window closes.
With the total time the transfer portal is open going from 45 total days to 30, how does Utah coach Kyle Whittingham think it will impact the process?
“I don’t think there’ll be any impact because players know if they’re going to leave or not. So whether it’s 20 days, 30 days, it’s a big enough window that I don’t think it’s going to,” Whittingham said. “It’s not like on day 27 the guy says, ‘OK, I think I’ll transfer.’ They have that inclination as the season winds down, so I don’t see any impact on that either way.”
There were rumors of the NCAA potentially doing away with the spring football transfer window altogether and only having one fall window, but the organization decided against that.
That’s something Whittingham is happy to hear.
“I was glad that they left the two windows, though, because after spring, a lot of times it’s in the player’s best interest to move on and if he does then you have a chance to recruit to try to fill that gap,” Whittingham said.
Dec. 4, just days before the fall transfer window opens, is this year’s early signing day. That’s been moved up three weeks from last year and comes the week of the Big 12 championship game on Dec. 7. For whichever programs make it to the title game, it adds even more to coaches’ plates on the most important week of the season.
The Utes currently have 18 players committed to their 2025 class, headlined by four-star Spanish Fork offensive tackle Aaron Dunn and four-star Las Vegas linebacker Christian Thatcher.
With the Utes’ move away from the West Coast Pac-12 and to the Big 12, how has Whittingham seen his recruiting footprint shift?
“It’s shifted a little bit east, south and east. We were in Texas already, but we’ve got a bigger presence in Texas and we’ve put more manpower into the southern states of Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana. So we’ve shifted a little bit in that direction. We still have a good solid presence in California, but not as much as it was before.”
The No. 1 question on recruits’ minds is that of revenue sharing, and the latest development in “House v. NCAA” case came on Monday, when district judge Claudia Wilken granted preliminary approval to the settlement that would allow colleges to share revenue with players.
The final hearing for settlement approval will come on April 7, 2025, according to ESPN.
As part of the settlement, the NCAA will backpay $2.8 billion to former athletes that were barred from using their name, image, and likeness to profit while they were attending school. It also allows schools to share revenue with players — as much as $23 million, annually, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said in July at Big 12 football media days that the university is “all-in” on wherever the settlement falls.
Another part of the settlement that will impact Whittingham’s team is the addition of roster limits for all sports, including football. Under the NCAA’s settlement, there would be a maximum of 105 players allowed on a team’s football roster, but scholarships can be awarded to all of those players. Utah typically carries 120 players on its roster, with 85 of those having full-ride scholarships.
“That’s getting down to the bare bones. I mean we don’t have a waiver wire. I can’t make trades like the NFL has. So when you talk about potentially playing, what, a 17-game season, I guess if you’re fortunate enough to go all the way to the end, that’s pretty thin by the end of the season,” Whittingham said in August. “It’s positive that there is an opportunity for more guys to be on scholarship because right now it’s 85.”
The downside is that about 15 fewer players will be able to be on each college football team, and when multiplied by 134 Division I football teams, that’s a loss of over 2,000 roster spots.
“That’s a lot of ball players that won’t have the opportunity to play Division I football,” Whittingham said in August.