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The transfer portal is leaving some athletes with nowhere to go.
Now that the college transfer portal is in full swing for basketball and football players, it is becoming clear how dangerous or foolish putting their names in can be and rolling the dice with their futures.
Most college jocks have deals made, or at least assured, before they portal. I certainly hope that is the case with Beau Atkinson, the edge rusher who announced he was leaving after the final spring football practice.
Maybe Atkinson did not like the amount that Bill Belichick and Mike Lombardi were offering and, if so, had schools willing to pay him more. If he doesn’t find the offer he is looking for, he still has time to come back if the head coach and GM will take him. After all, he was UNC’s best returning defensive player with NFL promise, where Belichick could have helped.
Another transfer with Carolina ties even if he never enrolled here is Simeon Wilcher, the basketball guard who got his release when Elliot Cadeau reclassified after his junior year in high school to accept his scholarship offer from Hubert Davis a year early.
The 6-4 Wilcher transferred to St. John’s to play for Rick Pitino, who started him in 25 games, but never developed as the shooter and scorer he was supposed to be. He averaged 8 points and shot under 30 percent from 3-pont range and dished only 1.4 assists per game as a sophomore.
So we hear almost daily about players who are transferring and those schools in pursuit. Wilcher has been linked to Kentucky, which needs a point guard, and Carolina, which recently signed Kyan Evans from Colorado State where he had a far better resume than Wilcher.
More than 50 percent of the athletes who enter the transfer portal don’t find an acceptable place to go or sign at smaller schools with less money than they were hoping for. And what about the dilemma this merry-go-round lays on coaches. Would Davis offer Wilcher a second chance with the Tar Heels, for whom he would have to earn his minutes? It is hard to believe Hubert would do that with Evans, two 4-star freshmen and senior Seth Trimble leading the backcourt.
Trimble, you remember, entered the portal after his freshman year but kept in communication with the UNC staff, and it wasn’t long before he reclaimed his spot on the roster and improved his stats as a sophomore.
“After much consideration, I’ve decided my heart and soul belong in Chapel Hill,” he said. “I’ve taken time to realize where my home is.”
Trimble is one of the lucky portal survivors, rotating with Cadeau and R.J. Davis for the last two seasons and was in contention for ACC Sixth Man of the Year as a junior. He is likely to be a starter this coming season in a backcourt with more size if not star power.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
