Culture First: Why Howard & Co. Are Navigating The Portal As Well As Anyone

It’s a question many fans have when their teams sign a player or two from college basketball’s transfer portal:

“How is this going to affect the freshmen or the recruits?”

And it’s a fair one. Kids want to play, after all, and whether it’s football, basketball or any other sport, preaching patience these days is often a futile exercise.

Three years ago, in speaking with then-offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton at a pregame press conference about his young quarterbacks, he confirmed what most of us thought.

“You can try to talk to them and tell them to be patient, that their time will come,” he said.

Then he smiled.

“But they all want to play … now.”

It’s gotten even trickier with the transfer portal. In some years it’s going to be a no-brainer, like Michigan basketball in 2020-21. The Wolverines needed immediate help at point guard with Xavier Simpson graduating, and Columbia transfer Mike Smith proved to be the perfect fit. It was too much to expect freshman combo guard Zeb Jackson to take the reins, and while senior Eli Brooks can (and did) provide minutes at the point, it was clear they needed a proven floor leader.

Smith’s contribution worked out better than anyone could have expected.

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But what of the slippery slope of recruiting transfers when you’re bringing in elite freshmen who want to impact immediately? That’s the situation with four-star Frankie Collins, for example, who will now compete with Coastal Carolina transfer DeVante’ Jones for time at the point this fall after Howard secured the latter’s commitment last week.