On December 14, Ithaca College Bombers’ junior quarterback Matthew Parker made the decision to leave what he knew behind, taking the leap into the unknown, and entering the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Parker and junior receiver Luke Sudol were the only two football players to consider the university transfer.

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which offers NCAA athletes a more direct pathway to moving to other universities, typically without a year of ineligibility, has made a big impact on college sports, now trickling into the lives of Ithaca College athletes.

While transfers to Division l have become overwhelming in past years, transfers from Division lll have been rare — especially the rare intra-division transfer that Parker decided on in his move to Alfred University.

Entering the portal was a daunting experience, with so few rules, Parker said. He did not know what could happen.

“I started it off just discussing with my family, ‘Is this the right decision?’ Parker said. “Because you hear a lot about the portal and millions of guys just put their name in there and they don’t even find a home and you’re like, ‘is this really worth it?’ Am I just another statistic?”

According to data collected by Mike Farrell Sports, 5,804 football players entered from Division l compared to just 1,053 from Division lll, during the 2022-2023 cycle. A wide variety of factors play to this discrepancy, including differing rules in each division. Division l football implemented a 14-day window in January, whereas Division lll has no restrictions on when players can leave, the wild west of recruitment.

Thankfully for Parker, his entrance into the portal was not complicated by lots of paperwork or hesitance from IC. Instead, Tyler Heisey, associate director of college athletics, completed his request quickly, while coach Michael Toerper advised him on the next steps. His coaches also made calls to recommend him to other programs, Parker said.

Both Parker and Sudol received upwards of 10 different inquiries within the first 24 hours. Sudol said he received his first offer almost immediately.

“Within 15 minutes, Salisbury University called me and offered right away,” he said. “Then the first day I was in, it was pretty hectic, I was getting calls all day.”

It’s not just football that has to work with the portal. Ithaca College men’s basketball coach Mike McSloy knows the pace of the Division lll portal firsthand. McSloy recruited junior forward Matthew Zenker to follow him from his previous stop at Drew University.

“You go to cast a wide net to get a few guys,” McSloy said. “You’re kind of just looking at the name, the stats, and emailing somebody, and that’s a hard thing to do, in terms of trying to yield that person.”

The athletes that entered the portal all stated that their reasoning to transfer to another Division lll was to get another opportunity to play. Despite this, all three also expressed concern for either continuing their academic path or finding more of a challenge.

“Money talks,” Parker said. “In Division l, you can go get a couple thousand somewhere else. You’re also able to redshirt. In Division lll, it’s still the uncertainty of ‘am I going to play’ and with Division l you could just redshirt and then move on to a different school until you do play.”

Despite completing the process, players express uncertainty about how the growing portal is structured. Sudol would like to see the regulated structure, similar to Division l, one that has a window for players to enter and redshirt options.

Eyes will be on Division lll leadership, and if they follow the path of higher divisions and student athletes demands during future NCAA talks.