Ohio State now has four players in the transfer portal. Each time a player announced their departure from Columbus, a decent chunk of 11W readers expressed their doubts about this new era of college football free agency. They long for days when players showed (or were at least forced to show) *real* commitment to their programs by riding the pine for their entire career. I imagine this plays out on fan forums for teams all over.

I'd like to encourage these folks to re-frame their understanding of how the portal is affecting the greatest sport in our country. Is it creating a revolving door at the Woody? Or is it allowing players to find the appropriate program for their level of skills?

Football players are far from developed at 18 years of age, so every year there are coaches who are surprised by their recruits. You have Jonah Jackson, who was the 170th OT in the '15 cycle, who found himself dominating B1G lineman while an underclassman at Rutgers. And you have Jaelen Gill, the 2nd ranked all-purpose back in '18, who after two years in Columbus, knew he wasn't going to see meaningful playing time and left for BC.

While in very different circumstances, both Jackson and Gill found themselves on the wrong roster. Jackson wanted to give himself the best chance to play in the NFL, and Gill wanted to play football. Both guys made great decisions for their football careers. And both decisions are examples of how the transfer portal moves the sport towards a more perfect market for talent. This is a good thing. The transfer portal is capitalism.