Iowa football ups its transfer portal usage in 2023, but not to level of some Big Ten peers

Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series analyzing the state of the transfer portal and what it means for Iowa Athletics and beyond.

IOWA CITY — “Portal Kirk” has become part of the lexicon of Iowa football fans since last December — somewhat like how “New Kirk” did in 2015 — and one does not need to look far to understand why.

A few months after the 2021 season, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said he was “not looking to bring a lot of new guys in that really didn’t grow up in the program.”

But when Iowa needed help at quarterback after the 2022 season, “Portal Kirk” picked up a commitment from ex-Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara in December.

Iowa needed help at receiver, and “Portal Kirk” picked up a commitment from ex-Michigan tight end Erick All in December, ex-Charleston Southern wide receiver Seth Anderson in January and ex-Ohio State wide receiver Kaleb Brown in May.

Iowa was lacking experience at linebacker, and the staff added Nick Jackson, the ACC’s leader in tackles per game last year at Virginia.

“I wasn't necessarily in favor of the transfer portal and some of those things, but it's reality,” Ferentz said at Friday’s local media day. “So you deal with it and try to make it work in your favor and try to make it work better than somebody else can.”

What seems like a dramatic shift for the Hawkeyes is less dramatic when looking across the college football landscape, however.

The average Big Ten school added 9.8 transfers before the 2023 season, according to On3 Sports data analyzed by The Gazette. Iowa was slightly below the average with eight portal additions.

Head coaching changes across the conference inevitably resulted in more portal activity at some places, but even when excluding Nebraska, Wisconsin and Purdue, the Big Ten average goes from 9.8 to 9.

Only four of Iowa’s Big Ten peers — Illinois (six), Northwestern (six), Penn State (six) and Rutgers (five) — added fewer players from the portal, according to the On3 database.

It is partially a result of Iowa also having fewer transfer portal departures than some of its Big Ten foes. On3 has tracked 22 departures from Michigan State, for example — a far cry from Iowa’s 12.

What does stand out about Iowa’s portal usage, though, is its sudden change.

The Hawkeyes were one of two Big Ten teams to more than triple their transfer portal intake from 2022 to 2023. (Ohio State was the other.)

Iowa barely touched the transfer portal a year ago. Steven Stilianos, a tight end from FCS-level Lafayette College, was the Hawkeyes’ only portal addition after the 2021 season.

But the Hawkeyes were much more aggressive in the transfer portal after the 2022 season.

“Needless to say, that's reflective of the way college football's gone on, the way it's changing right now,” Ferentz said last month.

‘Learning as we go’

The Hawkeyes have been, as Ferentz phrased it last month, “learning as we go” amid the transfer portal shift.

Historically, Iowa has not been entirely disinclined to take on transfers. After all, the 14 players on Iowa’s 2023 roster with experience at other colleges might not seem much different from the 11 on the 2019 roster or 10 on the 2013 roster.

But the transfers came almost entirely from lower-division schools or community colleges during those seasons.

Now, along with still taking transfers from lower division and community colleges, the Hawkeyes have procured Power Five talent via the portal.

Iowa has more athletes who had been at other Power Five schools on its 2023 roster — five, to be exact — than in its previous 10 seasons combined, according to the Hawkeyes’ online rosters.

“We're living in a very different world as college football coaches than we were three years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago,” Ferentz said last month at the Big Ten’s media days. “The way we're operating now is just going to be part of the terrain moving forward unless we see change.”

But as many other aspects of college football change, Ferentz — “New Kirk,” “Portal Kirk” or whatever moniker comes next — is not entirely changing his formula that has mostly worked well in the last 24 seasons.

“What doesn't change is our goals remain the same,” Ferentz said. “It's about having our players maximize their abilities and maximize their opportunities. So that hasn't changed an awful lot.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com