As someone who’s helped guide a couple NFL/NBA players through their college transfer portal process, one thing that’s always stuck out to me is how small the collegiate athletics world actually is.
When people like us are working at a company with good culture and you apply elsewhere, you usually try to gain as much info about the new company’s people/culture as possible (even if it’s a better title/money) because oftentimes you don’t know anyone other than who’s interviewed you.
However, this isn’t even a consideration for most of these college guys. And the reason is, because of high school elite regional/national camps, all star games, etc. these players have such a vast network of coaches and players outside of their first college. VERY rarely are players transferring to a school where they don’t know a couple players and/or coaches already. Even if it’s a friend of a friend who can connect you and give you the low down. It’s NOT like us going to a new company that’s a complete unknown. College football players have relatively the same football schedule, day-to-day life, college atmosphere, etc. from school to school. They’re all colleges with FBS football programs. It’s not as big of a risk/unknown in their personal lives as it would be for us in a somewhat comparable situation.