The NCAA will be moving to a single transfer portal for football as soon as 2026. It will cut out the spring portal window and move the December window to early January with the latest reports being that it will last 15 days, starting on Jan. 2 and going through Jan. 16. This change is something that will be a blessing to Utah State in some ways, but also a potentially massive hinderance to the Aggies’ ability to effectively utilize the transfer portal in years to come.

In just his second press conference as head coach of Utah State, way back in February, Bronco Mendenhall told reporters he was considering moving the normally public spring scrimmages behind closed doors. The risk of losing players in the spring transfer portal window that would open in April — while spring ball would still technically be ongoing — was too big in his mind.

“There are rules that are supposed to be governing tampering, but they’re not enforced,” Mendenhall said at the time. “They’re not enforced effectively and they’re having very little impact on the decisions made. So tampering is widespread and it is occurring. And so am I concerned about having an open scrimmage for opponents to show up or the national landscape to send personnel here to watch that and then simply buy our players? Certainly.”

Mendenhall ultimately did close the spring practices and scrimmages to the public — along with the ones in the fall — and also clamped down on any concrete information regarding the performance of his roster during the offseason. That decision, for whatever impact it may have had on public excitement for the program, seemed to accomplish it’s goal as the Aggies had relatively few players exit via the spring portal, most of whom weren’t expected to be in the opening week two-deep depth chart.

But now with the spring portal eliminated, Aggie fans, along with Mendenhall, should be happy, right?

Well, there’s a new issue with the NCAA’s decision. And it’s all about the timing of the new portal window and its clash with the academic calendar.

Utah State’s 2026 spring semester will begin on Jan. 5, three days after the opening of this newly adjusted transfer portal. There’s no realistic way, even for players who put their name in the portal the moment it opens, for Utah State to recruit, conduct visits and get athletes enrolled by the time the semester starts. Most players wouldn’t be able to get settled on campus until the semester is already several weeks in.

In a March interview with the Full Court Press on 106.9 FM / 1390 AM The FAN, Mendenhall said the timing of a January portal window “would literally eliminate us from being able to use the transfer portal” barring some sort of change to USU’s academic calendar.

Six months after that interview, Mendenhall was asked to follow up on those comments after news had broken about the finalization of the decision to move to one portal window in January. He gave a less-than-enthusiastic update on his view of the situation.

“I’ve had conversations and expressed the concern not only for Utah State, but any other early-start-semester school that begins January 5th-ish, or that week, and what the intent is to mitigate [concerns]. I’ve received no answers, no relief, and really, quite frankly, haven’t been listened to,” Mendenhall said, later continuing: “No one has addressed the early start. It is academics. This is [about the] student athlete and I’m pretty frustrated at the lack of attention or, quite frankly, even acknowledgement.”

Most universities in the Mountain West, and future Pac-12, do not share this issue to the same degree, though a few do such as Oregon State and the Air Force Academy. Other institutions around the country, including Power Four schools like Florida State or Group of Six schools like Ball State, also have early-January starts for their spring semester. Here’s a quick look at the start dates for all current Mountain West institutions along with Utah State’s future fellow Pac-12 schools, Oregon State, Washington State and Texas State.

Jan. 5 — Utah State, Air Force, Oregon StateJan. 12 — Hawaii, Washington State, Texas StateJan. 13 — Boise StateJan. 15 — Fresno StateJan. 20 — San Diego State, San Jose State, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Colorado StateJan. 21 — New Mexico

Eight of these 15 institutions will have their spring semesters begin while the portal window is still open. So while Utah State sits in a particularly vulnerable position because of the timing of the portal, it will clearly not be alone in dealing with these issues. Pretty much every university will have to deal with some headaches on the academic side of collegiate football. USU, and those institutions that share a similar spring semester start time, will just deal with it to a larger degree.

For these reasons, among others, Mendenhall referred to this new change as “short-sighted.”

“I like a single transfer portal window, I’m for that, but it’s short-sighted and there hasn’t been relief granted to anyone that’s an early start school,” Mendenhall said.

Mendenhall also noted challenges for those participating in the college football playoffs. The quarterfinals conclude on New Year’s Day, with the four semifinalists having the portal window begin for them a day or two after winning those games and a week prior to semifinal games on Jan. 8-9. The portal window will close before the national championship is even played on Jan. 19.

For any team facing logistical issues with bringing on transfers, the notion of perhaps just bypassing the use of the transfer portal is simply not an option. Not for the Aggies. Not for really any team. Mendenhall said bringing in players, especially prior to the start of spring practice is “essential.”

“You’re addressing immediate needs with the portal,” Mendenhall said. “To address immediate needs and do that after spring practice really is not ideal.”

Consider the current Utah State rotation in which 11 of the team’s starters on offense or defense are transfers from just this offseason, with another six being players who transferred to Utah State in years prior. In all, 17 of USU’s 22 starters against Vanderbilt were not brought to Logan as high school recruits.

Mendenhall will have to work with university leadership, from new Athletics Director Cam Walker to Interim President Alan Smith and the future full-time university president, to explore ways to solve the issue. Walker spoke to the need for move with the ever-changing college athletics landscape as the alternative is not an option.

“If the rules that we’re playing by change, we’re going to have to adapt and change as well,” Walker said. “And we’re going to have to change processes and modernize in those ways. And so if that date gets set, we’re going to have to make some adjustments. It’s not an option to not get people in the portal. And so we’re going to have to make some options so that Bronco can field the team that he needs to in order to meet the goals and standards that we have.”

Smith noted the need to ensure any changes or accommodations made for the football program don’t ruffle too many feathers on the academic side of things.

“We’re going to have to work with our faculty and staff communities on campus to make sure that we don’t have extra friction,” Smith said. “We’re going to have students coming in when the semester is already underway and that’s never easy for a student. So we have to work hard as an institution to make it as frictionless as possible and enable students to come here and thrive.”