PSU Football
News & Information
News—Oct. 8, 2025—Updated
NCAA January-only Football Transfer Portal Window Approved
The NCAA Division One Administrative Committee has approved a final plan to create a single annual 15-day winter transfer portal window for football in January. The plan takes effect immediately and will run initially from Jan. 2 to 16, 2026. The old April and December portal windows are eliminated.
Under the newly approved policy, all football players in FBS & FCS would not be able to place their names in the portal until the January 2 start date, and this would, for the first time, also apply to graduate transfers. Players who enter the portal would not have to actually reach a decision on a new school destination within the 15-day open window period. Players on the two FBS teams who are playing in the CFP Championship Game would have 5 additional days from Jan. 20-24, 2026, to enter their names in the portal. It is hoped that the new plan will allow teams to complete their entire post-seasons without any unexpected loss of personnel.
The new plan also modifies the portal window for teams that lose head coaches in-or-out-of-season. Moving forward, that 15-day portal window will not open to players on affected teams until there is a hiring or an announcement of a hiring of the new head coach. This new coaching-change portal rule does not impact players at schools where changes recently occurred under the old rule (ex: UCLA & Virginia Tech).
Penn State was deeply hurt by the mid-December Portal window in 2024 when back-up QB Beau Pribula decided to transfer and could not visit new schools and still prepare for the CFP 1st Round game vs. SMU which forced him to leave the team prior to the playoffs. And the April 2025 Portal window may have played a factor in a number of schools cancelling end-of-Spring practice football games, or not permitting their TV telecast to limit recruiting, as Penn State did with its 2025 Blue-White game.
The NCAA Division One Administrative Committee has also approved a policy change that will permit Div. 1 student-athletes and athletics personnel to bet on professional sports. Betting on any college sports will still be a violation and could, in fact, be a crime in certain cases. The change becomes necessary due to the difficulty of enforcing anti-gambling rules in the era of easy to access on-line gambling. The NCAA says it is not endorsing sports gambling in any form. THE RULE MUST STILL BE APPROVED AT THE DIVISION 2 AND 3 LEVELS TO TAKE EFFECT (possibly as soon as November 1).
