If the college football calendar made some sense, Texas QB Maalik Murphy would likely be in uniform for the Longhorns as they play Washington in the College Football Playoff.
Instead, Murphy won’t be with the Longhorns at the Sugar Bowl. Heck, he might even have a new team by that point.
Murphy announced Wednesday night that he was entering the transfer portal. The announcement wasn’t much of a surprise; starting QB Quinn Ewers hasn’t made a decision on the 2024 NFL draft and former five-star recruit Arch Manning is waiting in the wings in Austin.
With Manning redshirting in 2023, Murphy started two games for the Longhorns this season. Texas went 2-0 and he showed plenty of promise. The former four-star recruit in the class of 2022 is immediately one of the most coveted QBs available in the portal and will have no shortage of schools chasing after him.
Murphy told ESPN Wednesday night that he had the option of staying with the Longhorns for the College Football Playoff and hated having to start looking for schools as Texas is two wins away from a national title.
“I hate it, I hate it,” Murphy said to ESPN. “I’m super invested in this team. Everything that we’ve done along the way and all the work we’ve put in together, it’s hard to walk away, especially at this point in the season.”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was understanding of Murphy’s plight. He held no ill will toward his No. 2 QB’s decision in an interview with a Texas TV station Wednesday night.
Murphy has to do what’s best for him. And thanks to the ridiculousness of December in college football, staying with Texas for the Sugar Bowl and a possible national championship game is simply not feasible.
“It’s nothing against Texas at all,” Murphy said. “I’m doing this purely for me and my future. In my eyes, I’ll always be a Longhorn and a part of this great team.”
You can thank the timing of the end-of-season transfer portal and the early signing period for that lack of feasibility. The transfer portal opened on Dec. 4 and many players found schools within a week of officially opening their transfer options. Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel committed to Oregon less than a week after he said he was looking for a new school. Georgia QB Brock Vandagriff’s move to Kentucky took days and quarterbacks like Taylen Green (Boise State to Arkansas) and Tyler Van Dyke (Miami to Wisconsin) also quickly found new schools.
Many players want to find their new schools as quickly as possible so they can enroll for the upcoming semester and participate in spring practices. And schools want to get transfers in the door as soon as possible to help manage their rosters.
There are just 16 days this year between the opening of the transfer portal and the beginning of the early signing period. Recruits can sign with schools on Dec. 20 — coaches are not only hard at work recruiting transfers to fill immediate needs, but they’re also pushing hard to get as many high school players to sign as early as possible.
The limited time between the portal opening and the early signing period leads to a chaotic December across college football as over 80 teams are also preparing for bowl games. It’s why so many players are opting out of bowl games like Murphy. Many want to open their options as quickly as possible with the early signing period looming.
The early signing period, created in 2017, was implemented before the transfer portal and the NCAA’s one-time immediate transfer rules were a reality. Six years ago, it wasn’t a bad idea. Now, it may be more of a burden than an asset.
But there are also no public and substantive discussions about how college football could change the way December is currently structured. Opening the transfer portal at the end of the regular season makes sense. Is the easiest fix pushing the early signing period back a month?
Signing day has traditionally been held in early February and is all but obsolete as many top recruits make their decisions in December now. Could college football have an early signing period in late January before signing day in late February or early March?
That would give players like Murphy more time to transfer and potentially be in uniform for their team’s bowl games. While there would still be a rush of players entering the portal as soon as it opens, it reasons the transfer process wouldn’t have to be as hurried as it is now for players and teams.
Moving the early signing period back could also lead to fewer players opting out of bowl games ahead of transfers. While opt-outs wouldn’t stop by any means, more teams could keep their rosters mostly intact through the postseason.
Whatever the solution is, it’s clear that the status quo is suboptimal. And it negatively affects players like Murphy, who are caught between trying to do what’s best for themselves while also being a great teammate.
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