National Junior College Prep League: How NIL Has Changed the Game for Transfer Portal Athletes

Las Vegas, Nevada / CRWE Press Release / March 10, 2026 — The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is the nationwide governing body of student athletes across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Since its founding in 1906, the organization has strictly prohibited student athletes from earning anything aside from what was provided from their academic and athletic scholarships. For many decades, student athletes, not just college football players, were not able to hold a job or receive any form of compensation during their time playing professional college sports. This included profiting from their name, their image, or likeness (NIL).

In 2010, a former University of Southern California running back was stripped of his 2005 Heisman Trophy award after it was discovered that he and his family were receiving gifts and cash from various boosters. USC and the player were penalized, banned from all 2010 and 2011 bowl games and lost 30 scholarships across three years. This sparked a controversy as critics argued it was unfair that the NCAA could profit off a student athlete’s NIL but they themselves received nothing aside from basic academic and athletic scholarships. In a separate incident, a USC basketball player claimed that the NCAA violated antitrust laws by using his NIL in the 2009 EA video game, NCAA Basketball 2009, without permission to profit. A class action lawsuit was soon filed against the NCAA, with over 20 former student athletes from 2009 through 2014 joining as plaintiffs. Five years after that lawsuit was won, California became the first state to pass legislation challenging the NCAA on NIL rules.

In June 2021, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor against the NCAA and its NIL restrictions (NCAA vs. Alston) as a direct violation of US antitrust laws. The NCAA finally allowed NIL activity among student athletes and let schools set their own policies. Athletes, including college football players, were finally allowed to appear in ad campaigns, advertise brands, sign endorsement deals, sell merchandise, operate their own business, and hire professional NIL service providers. This marked a massive shift in the sports industry, with the NIL market surpassing $900 million within just one year. College football instantly shot up as top earner in the NIL landscape, accounting for 48.8% of all revenue generated. NIL began letting lesser known athletes from smaller schools compete with the dominance of big name athletes from top tier universities in terms of finding success in college football. The growth of the focus on NIL has shifted the focus of players around the country, from solely on-field performance to integrating NIL into their portfolio as student athletes.

The Transfer Portal

These recent rule changes combined with the rise of NIL in college sports has led to a college free-agency marketing similar to that of professional sports like the NFL. Before the rule change, athletes needed permission from their coaches, the school’s athletic director or the school dean if they wanted to transfer to another school. Most student athletes were either forced to stay at their current school or transfer with the risk of forfeiting any potential scholarships at the new school. In 2018, the NCAA created the transfer portal as a way for students to transfer schools without the loss of scholarships. It is essentially a database containing each and every player currently enrolled on a scholarship in the NCAA wanting to transfer to another school, within a very specific “transfer portal window date”. During that window, coaches from other schools can view and contact athletes with their name entered to secure them for their school.

The NCAA has recently made a significant change to the portal. D1 players competing in college football, baseball, basketball and men’s ice hockey are now allowed to transfer schools via the NCAA portal without sitting out the following year after their transfer. This means that the number of times a player can transfer is only limited to the portal transfer window dates. This change has allowed schools and third parties to incentivize NIL transfers for players they are seeking to sign on, with over 75% of all portal activity being players transferring from one school to another.

Around the country, many athletic directors and coaches believe that an unregulated NIP market and transfer portal will lead to more and more unfair recruiting tactics, as well as an increase in the number of overlooked but promising players who deserve to be playing college football. Whether or not the transfer portal and its rule changes are fair is up to debate. What is clear is that student athletes are now in control of where they play for and for how long, and that the current recruiting landscape is marked by how much a player can catch the eyes of recruiters, coaches and their schools through their NIL and quality film. As more and more players enter and transfer through the portal every year, many promising names get pushed out of a scholarship, or left overlooked by programs.

The NJCP Advantage

The National Junior College Prep (NJCP) Football League is aiming to provide a solution to players seeking to secure a pathway into college football. By creating a platform specifically for junior college athletes, the league intends to provide access to coaching, training and academic guidance to help players earn their way into college football. This includes high school graduates from smaller schools, “late bloomers” who have physically matured into football, and stuck transfer portal athletes who are struggling to find a new school to sign into. By connecting 18 junior college football teams across the country, NJCP aims to close the gap between high school football and college football by giving student athletes professional game film, job opportunities, academic access and guidance while they train, as well as access to a network of coaches who are either former NFL and college players or veteran coaches across the nation. Realizing the importance of NIL and professional game film to catch the eyes of recruiters, the league is preparing itself for the 2026 season.

About NJCP Football League: The National Junior College Prep Football League is the first national system for junior college prep football, designed to organize, showcase, and develop overlooked football talent across the United States. Built by former NFL athletes and veteran coaches, the NJCP provides a professionalized platform for player development, media exposure, and community impact for athletes across the nation. For more information, please visit www.njcpfootball.com.

Reference: A Field of Dreams: How NIL Changed the Game for Student Athletes, Financial Planning Association (2023)

Further Reading:

ESPN.com:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35482485/jaden-rashada-faq-top-recruit-nil-deal-florida-football

NCAA.org:

https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2021/5/4/history.aspx

https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2015/2/13/want-to-transfer.aspx

https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2022/4/25/transfer-portal-data-division-i-student-athlete-transfer-trends.aspx

Opendorse.com:

https://biz.opendorse.com/nil-insights/

https://opendorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/N1L_Full_063022_3.pdf

Supreme Court.gov: