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Since its creation in 2018, the NCAA transfer portal has been a thorn in the side of college coaches everywhere, across every sport.
Not only have coaches had to recruit high school athletes, but now they must take time to re-recruit their own players when other teams come calling.
In theory, schools may not contact a player prior to their official entry to the portal. But that rule is enforced similarly to jaywalking in a large city.
This has caused particular problems for smaller programs, who have seen their top players poached by the big boys.
Take, for instance, the UAB Blazers.
The Blazers lost perhaps their best player, defensive back Jaylen Key, to Alabama via the transfer portal.
First-year coach Trent Dilfer spoke out about the portal on a recent episode of local radio morning show the Rick and Bubba Show.
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"I DARE Coaches To Try To Take My Players."
– Trent Dilfer @DilfersDimesThe UAB Head Football Coach has some choice words for any opposing coaches that may try to take his players…. @UAB_Athletics @UAB_FB #UABFootball pic.twitter.com/31ApvnbVr0
— Rick & Bubba Show (@rickandbubba) June 23, 2023
“By the way, come try to get my guys,” Dilfer began. “I dare you Power fives. I’ve got a pretty big platform that I can step on. And if I find you in my kid’s DMs, if I find you talking to high school coaches about my kids, if you’re in my roster I’m gonna call your a** out.
“And I’m gonna say it by name to the biggest voices in television today and it’s gonna make (College) GameDay, and it’s gonna make SportsCenter…because, by the way, those guys running SportsCenter are still my friends. So go ahead, I dare you to jump into my roster.”
Dilfer, of course, worked for ESPN from 2008-2017. He also spent time at NFL Network and Fox Sports 1. So he’s not bluffing when he talks about his media connections. But whether or not that’s enough to dissuade Power Five coaches from sniffing around his roster is yet to be scene.
Dilfer takes over a UAB program that hasn’t finished under-.500 since 2013.