Joel Klatt rips NCAA’s transfer system: ‘We have to fix this’

Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt is calling for college football to fix a critical part of the transfer portal, which he called “an incredibly flawed system.”

Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula announced on Sunday that he is entering the transfer portal. Klatt — who has not been shy about criticizing college football’s higher-ups — did so again here, calling on the NCAA to fix the issue.

“The NCAA has built an incredibly flawed system that is impossible to navigate for these young men,” Klatt shared on X (formerly Twitter). “The fact that we have an open XFR Portal while the season is still happening is crazy. We have to fix this!”

The NCAA has built an incredibly flawed system that is impossible to navigate for these young men. The fact that we have an open XFR Portal while the season is still happening is crazy. We have to fix this! https://t.co/899iFUZKwv

— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) December 16, 2024

This is a particularly notable issue as the Nittany Lions are less than a week away from their College Football Playoff matchup against SMU.

And while Pribula is not a starter, he’s not an insignificant part of Penn State’s offense. He completed 35 passes for 275 yards with five touchdowns while backing up Drew Allar. But more notably, Pribula was a big part of the Nittany Lions’ rushing attack, rushing for 249 yards with six touchdowns.

depth was always going to be important in the expanded playoff, but for a PSU team whose run game is at its best when the QB is involved (often including Pribula!) this is massive https://t.co/9DVgXCNzzM

— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) December 16, 2024

But while Penn State being a CFP team makes this issue more notable, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen it. A season ago, Oregon State took the field for the Sun Bowl against Notre Dame with a roster that bore little resemblance to the one that played the rest of the season for the Beavers. More notably, Florida State had the same issue against Georgia in the Orange Bowl. But Oregon State and Florida State were handily defeated by their opponents, Notre Dame and Georgia, respectively.

This year, we’ve already seen Marshall decide to opt out of the Independence Bowl due to the roster being too compromised.

So, it was only a matter of time before this happened to a team in the College Football Playoff. Knowing that and seeing that it now has happened to Penn State, there’s no arguing against Klatt here. He’s right. It’s a big problem that can’t be fixed soon enough.

[Joel Klatt on X]