Penn State's James Franklin calls for critical college football transfer portal change

Zain Bando

Penn State's James Franklin calls for critical college football transfer portal change image

© Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Penn State coach James Franklin says there should be limits to the transfer portal. 

Although it has given players the freedom to pursue other opportunities at other schools, there should be a line that shouldn’t be crossed from Franklin’s viewpoint

“We’re having these conversations during the playoffs,” Franklin said on "The Triple Option" podcast. “I’m trying to retain my team during the playoffs. That’s the challenge. We’re trying to get rid of this so you don’t have the transfer portal open during the playoffs. We should be totally focused on trying to win a championship and instead, I’m having conversations to try to keep the team together.”

Franklin has been extremely vocal about this process in the past, but believes college football is moving in the right direction, specifically in the Big Ten with its recent expansion.

“I’m proud,” Franklin said. “I think the biggest thing is the point that you just made. It’s strange that the Big Ten is now on the West Coast but I think whenever you’re able to add a USC, a UCLA, a Washington and an Oregon to your conference — you can argue this is the strongest the Big Ten has ever been in its history from top to bottom.”

Franklin said he’s excited for the future, but more importantly, what the Nittany Lions have done year after year in one of the sport’s toughest conferences.

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“So, yeah, I’m proud of that," Franklin added. "I’m proud of being associated with the Big Ten, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do. I’m proud of the success on the football field and I’m proud of Penn State’s role in that as well.”

Penn State’s season begins at the end of August, hosting Nevada in Week 1.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).