Tennessee Volunteers’ biggest offseason transfer addition, Penn State EDGE Chaz Coleman, missed much of spring practice. Coleman also missed last week’s summer workouts.
We are still unsure how the Chaz Coleman situation at Tennessee will turn out, but the whole experience has exposed a “fix” that college football sorely requires.
Coleman, the Penn State transfer EDGE who was the Vols’ most high-profile portal acquisition this offseason, missed the majority of spring practice due to off-the-field personal concerns.
According to VolQuest’s Austin Price, the Ohio native did not report on time for summer practices last week, but did arrive in Knoxville this past Friday.
Price wrote in his statement that it is “unknown” how Coleman’s return to Knoxville affects his standing with the program.
While we don’t know what the future holds for Coleman at Tennessee—there’s still little hope that he’ll play for the Vols this fall—this entire scenario has brought to light a change that college football desperately needs.
Tennessee’s Chaz Coleman issue has provided college football with the ideal method to “fix” the game.
As the sport adjusts to the consequences of enormous NIL contracts and the transfer portal, college football has many problems to resolve.
There are several sensible remedies to college football (one issue is gaining agreement on certain changes). I believe the Coleman incident gave college football a blueprint for one solution that would solve a lot of problems and improve the sport’s health.
Coleman relocated to Tennessee just weeks after deciding to leave Penn State. He wasn’t recruited to Tennessee while in high school, therefore he wasn’t familiar with Knoxville. The Vols acquired Coleman partly to his prior acquaintance with defensive coordinator Jim Knowles (Coleman played for Knowles at Penn State in 2025). Tennessee also gave Coleman a lucrative NIL offer (On3’s Chris Low estimates UT has paid Coleman $200k to $250K so far of his $2 million-ish deal).
This was a significant decision for a young player to make after just one trip to Tennessee and only a few weeks to deliberate.
And that’s how the majority of transfer decisions are made in January. Players have only a few weeks to decide on their next step, negotiating five-digit, six-digit, and seven-digit contracts. It’s a lot for young athletes who are still learning to adapt to adult life. Many players are receiving inadequate advice from fly-by-night “agents. “
However, there is an extremely simple solution—if everyone would simply agree to it.
I believe the sport would be much more lucrative if players were required to complete the academic year at the institution they represented in the fall. Players might complete the spring semester, with the portal opening in late April for one week. Coaches would have their rosters set by early May, which is basically how it operates in the NFL.
Now, here’s the part that I believe improves college football. A “legal tampering period” should begin immediately following the national championship game. Programs would have three months to review the roster and devise a strategy to keep players. Players would have three months, rather than three weeks, to make a momentous decision that will affect the remainder of their careers. I believe that allowing players to visit during the three-month tampering phase would be ideal.
In this case, no transactions may be formalized until the gateway opens, therefore even if a player commits to something in February, it will not be sealed in writing until late April.
This circumstance would obviously preclude spring practice. But that’s something that has been discussed for a time. Teams might hold minicamp style practices immediately after the semester finishes in May if the portal is moved to late April.
I envision the offseason calendar being as follows:
Mid-May to Memorial Day: Minicamps
Brief break for Memorial Day
Return to minicamps on the specified dates in June.
Breakdown From July 1 until fall training begins (possibly some workouts are taking place during this time, whatever works best for the teams and athletes).
This is the NFL’s structure, and it works effectively. No one makes a career decision in a week or two, especially when under duress to do so, in this scenario. Athletes would be able to make better judgments, and programs would as well. And we wouldn’t see anywhere near as many Chaz Coleman-like scenarios. This situation would also allow the coaching cycle to run into January, avoiding a recurrence of the Lane Kiffin Ole Miss-to-LSU issue.
Coaches enjoy having their squads finalized by January for winter workouts and spring practice. I get it. However, the present late December/early January calendar is an unsustainable mess. It is not ideal for athletes, and it is still causing difficulties for college football programs.
Teams would still be able to practice in the winter on a voluntary basis. Everyone would be in the same boat, so there is no disadvantage.
(A consequence of this “fix” would be rescheduling National Signing Day to February, as there would be no requirement for early enrollees; these individuals would join the squad in May for minicamps if they graduate early, or in June if they graduate with their class. )
The ideal solution for college football is one that allows players and teams to make educated judgments. This would provide that.
