The college football transfer portal has completely changed how schools build their teams, as coaches appear to be in recruitment mode all the time for active players. And with some schools able to use endorsement money to lure players away, the industry is in a whole new era.
Even if players have no intention to transfer, that doesn’t mean some schools are trying to convince them to anyway. Coming off a strong season, Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa said he was offered $1.5 million from an SEC team to transfer in the offseason.
However, Tagovailoa chose to return to Maryland, in part because he knows he doesn’t need that kind of money.
“It can be eye-opening, but I think for my situation — if I was in a different situation where maybe I didn’t have a brother in the NFL or maybe my parents, it’d be a different situation,” Tagovailoa said, via Audrey Snyder of The Athletic.
Tagovailoa mentioned he spoke with his brother, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, about what he should do, and that helped him realize it meant more to stay than to go elsewhere.
“It would be hard for me to go to another place and not be happy but have all the money in the world,” Tagovailoa said. “(I’d rather) be at a place where maybe I don’t have as much, but I’m happy and I’m here to work.”
Head coach Mike Locksley acknowledged how uncertain he was that Tagovailoa was coming back until it was too late for him to transfer.
“You hear the rumors, you know some of the things are going on out there behind the scenes,” Locksley said, per Snyder. “No, I was not comfortable until I saw him run out after that portal window closed up. But even then, a guy that’s a graduate can still leave and go play somewhere. I haven’t had a lot of nights of great sleep.”
In 2022, Maryland went 7–5 in the regular season, which they followed up with a win over NC State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Tagovailoa is entering his fourth season with Maryland after transferring from Alabama, and over the past two seasons he has thrown for 6,868 yards and 44 touchdowns in 25 games.
