College football has once again been changed.

On Oct. 7 the NCAA Division I Administrative Committee approved the dates for the one-time transfer portal window for all players in both the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision.

The dates for the new transfer portal will begin in 2026 on Jan. 2 and end on Jan. 16. This means players will be able to officially enter the transfer portal on the second day of the new year, as opposed to in the middle of December.

Now, the window will open just before the FCS National Championship game, and before the quarterfinals of the college football playoff at the FBS level.

Players will also get a 15-day exception if a coaching change is made.

The new window will have an impact on the FCS since the playoffs begin Nov. 29, and the championship game is on Jan. 5.

Let’s take a look at the changes to the Transfer Portal.

October 15, 2018: The transfer portal was created for players to leave their current school.

April 2021: Players could now transfer school without having to sit out a year.

August 2022: A 60-day window is introduced for fall sports. 45 days in Winter and 15 days in Spring.

April 2024: Second time transfers can play immediately during the 2024-2025 academic year.

October 2024: The transfer window shortened to 30 total days, 20 in winter and 10 in spring.

October 2025: The NCAA approved a one-time transfer window.

While it’ll take time to see how the one-time window will affect schools and players, the recruiting process will be the same for Eastern Illinois football team according to head coach Chris Wilkerson.

“We still know that we’re going to yield or try to attract a certain number of high school recruits and then we’ll see,” head coach Wilkerson said.  “Those are based on some graduating seniors, then we’ll see where we are at with potentially other departures at a later date.”

Eastern added 53 new players coming into this season with 32 being transfers.

For senior linebacker Tylan Foster, both the winter and spring portal were crucial. 

Foster transferred into Eastern this past winter from Incarnate Word. He also played JUCO at College of the Canyons.

He entered the portal on Dec 29 and talked to Temple University the first couple days after being in the portal. 

Foster also talked to Arkansas State, Western Michigan and Jackson State, Howard, Prairie View and Prairie A&M. 

Foster thought he was going to end up at Temple until the coaches stopped communicating.

Eastern offered Foster on Feb 26 and he officially committed on May 3.

“The process really took so long, it had me in my room staring at my ceiling, like what am I going to do,” Foster said.

Foster said he didn’t commit to a school in the winter portal because there would be more opportunities in the spring. 

“The biggest problem I see when it comes to recruiting is that a lot of coaches are gonna try any way possible to recruit you,” Foster said. “So they might sell you hopes and dreams but, when you actually get there on campus and get to the school, it’s really not what they told you.”

With a process that took Foster six months to decide the best situation for him, players will now only get 14 days to make a decision that could change their collegiate careers forever.

Junior linebacker Ja’Wuan Nickson had a similar experience in the transfer portal coming from his junior college Riverside City. 

“It was in the fall sometime, the portal was opening up and they [coaches] were offering guys and that kind of messed with my recruitment,” Nickson said. “You already have these guys that have been at a D1 level and you know if they transfer, the school is going to pick them nine times out of ten over a JUCO or high school dude.”

The University of Oklahoma was the first school Nickson talked to after entering the portal.

Oklahoma’s defense coordinator at the time was Zac Alley, who recruited Nickson for two months before ghosting him.

Nickson then turned his attention to Western Illinois and got an offer on Jan 10. But issues with paperwork led him to not commit to Western. 

Nickson talked to Eastern Illinois in the spring and got an offer on April 12 and committed May 2.

“You just don’t have any idea on how many guys may or may not be thinking about dipping their toe into the waters and what those waters may look like,” Wilkerson said. “But, we’ll try to educate them about what their options are and if we think that’s going to be a good thing for them and what that might look like.”

Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at cathomas8@eiu.edu.