The transfer portal is a lot of things, but at its base level it's an opportunity for both players and teams to improve their respective lots in life -- so long as they play their cards right. Coaches can change their fortunes if they take the right players, and find themselves in the coaches' version of the portal -- i.e., scanning FootballScoop's Jobs Page -- if they don't. Players can change their lives in ways good and bad by jumping in the portal. Cam Ward will be the No. 1 pick in the draft next week; that simply would not have happened had he spent his entire career at Incarnate Word. On the flip side, a far greater number of players have inadvertently ended their football careers by hopping in the portal and never coming out.
Any time one embarks on a journey filled with unfamiliar terrain, it's best to have a roadmap.
That's where Tremaine Jackson comes in. He was hired in December as Prairie View A&M's head coach after a 30-9 run over three seasons at Valdosta State, ending with a trip to the Division II national championship game last season. Prior to that, Jackson went 10-3 as Colorado Mesa's head coach from 2020-21. Though Wednesday marked the opening of his first spring portal at Prairie View, this isn't his first time navigating these waters.
On Wednesday, he shared five rules for new portal inhabitants hoping to be Prairie View A&M Panthers. Consider this a useful roadmap for players and coaches alike.
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Seeing it all laid out like that, Jackson's five rules bluntly drive home the saying that high school recruiting is like a first marriage -- a ritual-filled courtship, decorated with lots of pomp and circumstance -- and portal recruiting is like a second marriage. Two parties, wisened by experience, looking for a partner to fill their needs, quickly, or they're moving on because they've been through this song and dance once (or twice) before, and they know they've got no time to waste.
Happy hunting, everyone. Hold your roadmap tight so you won't get lost along the way.