DENVER — Playing for multiple schools over the course of a college football career no longer raises a red flag for NFL talent scouts.
It’s yet one more thing that has changed in an era of increasing mobility due to the NCAA transfer portal and more relaxed rules regarding immediate eligibility, as well as rising financial windfalls available to college athletes before they’re even old enough to buy a round of drinks.
That’s a good thing for the nearly one-third of the 398 prospects invited to the NFL scouting combine in February who switched schools on their way to catching the attention of pro scouts ahead of this week’s draft in Detroit. The first round of the draft is Thursday night, with the second and third rounds on Friday and the remaining four rounds on Saturday.
The list of players who capitalized on relaxed transfer rules includes former University of Southern quarterback Caleb Williams, the odds-on favorite to go first overall to the Chicago Bears, who traded with the Carolina Panthers a year ago for that pick. Williams spent his freshman year at Oklahoma before following coach Lincoln Riley to Los Angeles, where he threw 72 touchdown passes in two seasons with the Trojans and won the 2022 Heisman Trophy.
Another is 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, the former LSU quarterback who spent two seasons with the Tigers after playing three years at Arizona State.