Oklahoma Fans, Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams, and Immediate Eligibility

Oklahoma and its fans might not like the transfer portal for at least a little while.

Brian Smith | Nov 29, 2021

The NCAA transfer portal. It’s a beautiful thing, right? Maybe it is for your favorite program today, but perhaps tomorrow it’s incredibly ugly. It might only take a few hours for something to drastically change and a player decides it’s time to leave.

So, which side of the argument do you reside on? Yes, college athletes should gain access to immediate eligibility after transferring, or an athlete needs to sit out one year before playing again?

Maybe the answer to that question is different if you are an Oklahoma fan today. You have every reason to think twice now.

With Lincoln Riley taking the opportunity to become the University of Southern California’s Head Football Coach, Riley left Oklahoma in a surprising move. Now that the dust settled, diehard Oklahoma fans may not just be cursing Coach Riley for heading off to sunny Los Angeles.

Admit it, if you are a Sooners fan you are now concerned that members of the Oklahoma roster will follow Coach Riley out to California and play for the Trojans. There’s no doubt it’s a possibility, and there’s quite frankly nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Now, it’s unfortunate for Oklahoma today, but it’s been to its benefit in the past and will be again soon.

It’s a merry go round. Just wait for the hour of the day to change, and there you go. There’s always another player seemingly entering the transfer portal. Perhaps the next player will head to Norman, Okla.

The moral of this story is that every school, and not just Oklahoma, will eventually be in the circumstance that Oklahoma fans currently reside in. It’s a helpless feeling when it’s your team that’s about to be pillaged by USC and/or other programs when a head football coach decides to take his talents elsewhere.

So, do Oklahoma fans like the immediate transfer rule right now? Well, that depends.

If superstar freshman quarterback Caleb Williams decides to leave for another school, especially Southern California, probably not so much.

The Sooners also saw former starter and former 5-star recruit Spencer Rattler enter the transfer portal today. Losing Williams as well would be a major blow to the Sooners.

That’s the whole point on this merry go round. Remember when Oklahoma fans were happy about accepting the transfer of quarterback Jalen Hurts as a graduate transfer?

That was before the immediate eligibility started for underclassmen, but the rule for going to another school for graduate work was well underway. Bottom line, immediate eligibility for a talented player to take snaps behind center for the Sooners makes Oklahoma fans happy.

Of course Oklahoma fans enjoy watching a good quarterback for their beloved Sooners. Why would they not?

Would they put the Genie back in the bottle with Hurts if they knew Williams would soon transfer out of Oklahoma though? For the record, Williams has not announced a single comment about what he shall do via his Twitter handle since Coach Riley suddenly bolted to the sunshine of the West Coast.

With that in mind, he’s simply a prime example of how fans sometimes say one thing and do not truly think through the entire situation, the transfer portal included. Then again, many of those same fans fall under the “That will never happen to us!” category.

How many Sooners fans really saw Coach Riley leaving so unexpectedly, especially for Southern California?

That’s the nature of college sports. Every program is caught off guard at least every now and then. It’s impossible to say what Coach Riley and Williams discussed prior to him leaving or since he stepped down from his position as the Oklahoma Head Football Coach.

The same can be said for each player on the Oklahoma roster.

Either way, there’s definitely going to be a high percentage chance that some Oklahoma players enter the transfer portal and seek a new college home. Maybe Williams is just happy in Norman? That’s definitely possible too.

All of the up-in-the-air scenarios are because of the transfer portal, however. So, how much do you like it now if you are a Sooners fan? Even if you are not a Sooners fan, how would you feel right now if this scenario unfolds at your favorite school?

It could happen at Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas, or Clemson at some point during the next five years. Those fans would then be worried about players on their respective rosters following the departed coach to a new school or just leaving in general.

The transfer portal is here to stay. Some may like it now, but that could change rather quickly.

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