How Iowa football vets transfer portal players

IOWA CITY — Iowa football recruiting director Tyler Barnes has noticed that “high school recruiting has sped up.”

“There’s earlier offers,” Barnes said Wednesday. “There’s quicker commits.”

But if high school recruiting is a trolley, the transfer portal would be a high-speed bullet train.

Iowa’s top 2023 recruit from high school, offensive lineman Trevor Lauck, committed to the Hawkeyes almost a year after he received his offer.

Iowa’s first commitment from the transfer portal, quarterback Cade McNamara, was in the portal for three days before announcing his commitment to the Hawkeyes.

The accelerated recruiting process for the portal means less time for teams to vet possible additions to the team, but the Hawkeyes still “dig as much as possible” in the time they have.

“If we're getting engaged or getting married with this guy, we've got to know what we're inheriting,” Barnes said.

Barnes said Iowa’s staff reaches out to the school the player is transferring from to ask why the player is leaving, among other questions.

“Football, college football, NFL, it's a very small world,” Barnes said. “Most of the time, whether it's myself, somebody on our coaching staff, we're going to have a connection to that staff.”

Not every program seems to be as keen on reaching out to a player’s former school, though.

“We had a couple of our guys transfer other places, and the schools they went to never called us,” Barnes said. “Hey, good for them, but I would be a little worried that you don't reach out just to gauge anything.”

The vetting goes beyond just talking to the previous school. If Iowa’s staff targeted the player as a high school recruit, that adds an “extra level of comfort,” Barnes said.

“Because we can go right back to the high school coach who typically they end up having a pretty good relationship with the kid, even when he goes to college,” Barnes said.

Whether a player will fit with the current Iowa roster is “still a big part of it, too.”

“We still take a lot of input from our current team on, ‘Hey, what do you think? Is he going to fit with us or is he not?’” Barnes said. “And if they tell us he doesn't, then we'll move on.”

The transfer portal process has been especially fast with the implementation of transfer portal windows.

Previously, players could enter the portal at any given time. Now, the NCAA has two designated windows for players to enter the transfer portal.

Players have to enter the portal either in a 45-day window starting on Dec. 5 or a 15-day window in the spring to be eligible immediately.

Those who already have graduated or were on teams with a coaching change have more flexibility.

“I actually think the window has made this worse, honestly,” Barnes said. “I kind of liked the rules last year just because it wasn't so chaotic and crazy those first few days out, but that's where we're at.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com