Eli Drinkwitz predicts ‘most volatile transfer portal’ to date this coming offseason
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The 2026 college football season has been defined by unprecedented parity, with the gap between the nation’s traditional powerhouses and the rest of the field seemingly shrinking. As more programs find ways to compete at a high level, the sport’s competitive landscape has continued to evolve.
Much of this shift has been attributed to the growing influence of NIL and the transfer portal, factors that some of college football’s top coaches have been warning the wider college football world about for several years.
Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz has been one the most outspoken voices on the transfer portal, and he offered another prediction on Wednesday afternoon. According to 247Sports insider Brett Greenberg, Drinkwitz believes this offseason’s transfer portal window will be the “most volatile” the sport has seen yet.
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“Just a prediction, I think this will be the most volatile transfer portal,” Drinkwitz said Wednesday during the SEC teleconference. “I think we’ll have more people in the portal than we’ve had previously because that’s just the nature of what it is. More agents involved with players than there’s ever been.”
Given the recent surge in transfer portal entries and the constant stream of court rulings and lawsuits that allow players to return to college football, Drinkwitz’s prediction doesn’t seem far-fetched. In fact, another chaotic offseason in the transfer portal may be one of the safest bets in college football right now.
If the developments we’ve already seen this season are any indication, the sport’s competitive landscape could continue to shift in the coming years, with the transfer portal making the growing trend of parity within the sports an even more prominent feature.
