Beau Pribula’s transfer shines spotlight on NCAA’s calendar conflict

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The College Football Playoff starts this week. Penn State has the easiest road to the Championship Game. They have a home playoff game against SMU on Saturday.

The Penn State fan base has been overflowing with excitement.

Instead, the heat of that excitement has been cooled by the announcement from quarterback Beau Pribula that he is entering the transfer portal.

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Pribula may have been the backup to starting quarterback Drew Allar but he wasn’t just a guy holding the clipboard on the sideline. He has played meaningful snaps in all but two games over the last two seasons. Pribula rushed for 10 touchdowns and threw nine touchdown passes during that time, often showing the potential to be a starter at the Power Four level.

The constant threat of Pribula coming into the game and picking up a key first down or punching in a touchdown was an integral part of Penn State’s offensive gameplan.

And now head coach James Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will have to put together their most important gameplan of the season without Pribula. Why? Pribula said it best in his announcement.

“The overlapping CFB playoff and transfer portal timeline has forced me into an impossible decision.”

Pribula grew up in Pennsylvania and, as he said, “it has always been a dream of mine to play football for Penn State.” Instead of helping his team during their most meaningful stretch of games since Joe Paterno was patrolling the sideline, Pribula – a very important piece of the Penn State offense – has been cornered by the NCAA into making a choice: staying loyal to his teammates or doing what is best for himself and his family.

Make no mistake about it – there are millions of dollars at stake. So what is Pribula supposed to do?

The quarterback transfer market is a fierce and fast-paced arena. If Pribula waited to announce his transfer until Penn State’s season was over, there may not be any quarterback-needy teams left and he could miss out on life-changing money.

If Pribula announced he’ll be transferring but stayed with Penn State until the end of their playoff run – like what Ohio State’s Devin Brown and SMU’s Preston Stone are doing – his divided attention between the transfer process and preparing for playoff games could hurt him in both areas.

The entire quarterback market won’t wait for him.

The system set up by the NCAA has forced Pribula into a situation where, in making the best decision for himself, he has to hurt his teammates, coaches, and an entire fanbase.

There has to be change.

In most circumstances, players are only allowed to enter the transfer portal during the winter transfer window (Dec. 9-28), the spring transfer window (April 16-25), in a 30-day window following a change at the head coach position, or in a five-day window after their team has finished postseason play.

The placement of these transfer windows is clearly detrimental to a growing population of players and, by extension, a growing list of national title contenders. It is in the best interest of the NCAA and its member schools to find an acceptable solution to what is becoming a much more impactful issue than they expected.

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