Prairie View coach Tremaine Jackson seems to be willing to say what others feel but won’t admit publicly.
That has especially been the case when it comes to the transfer portal. Jackson, coaching from the challenging vantage point of being an HBCU Football Championship Series (FCS) program with limited NIL or revenue-sharing opportunities, has been no-nonsense when it comes to his expectations of student-athletes looking to join his program through the transfer portal.
The first-year Prairie View coach raised some eyebrows and made national news over the weekend while speaking at the annual American Coaches’ Association Convention when he came straight, no chaser as to why he relies so heavily on the transfer portal to reload instead of high school recruiting.
“I don’t think we can be successful and keep our jobs with a bunch of 18-year-olds,” said Jackson, whose Panthers won the SWAC and played for the HBCU national championship in his first season. “I’ve been recruiting high schools my whole life. I’ve been places where we could take them. But right now, I have to get guys who are in the portal.”
That’s definitely not what high school players and coaches want to hear, but it’s the reality of college football these days. With the opening of the transfer portal, which allows student-athletes to freely jump around from school to school in pursuit of the highest bidder, college programs are more willing to take a chance on proven college players rather than high school recruits who may or may not pan out.
But if you are gullible, you will believe the continued coaches’ lie that high school recruiting is “still the lifeblood” of their program. You can just look at the upcoming College Football Playoff National Championship game between Miami and Indiana to know that isn’t true. Both programs are stocked with players who cut their teeth elsewhere first, including both quarterbacks. That was the case throughout these playoffs, and it’s honestly been that way for a while.
But no one wants to believe it. It’s good that Jackson had the guts to say it.
Jackson also took aim at the street agents who are allowed to lure kids and then seek transfer portal deals on behalf of the student-athletes. It used to be the job of the recruiting coordinator or the most good-looking assistant coaches to flirt with and reel in single moms. Older coaches were usually assigned to the two-parent homes.
We all know if you win the mom, you get the kid.
The game has shifted, however. Now it’s the job of these so-called street agents to win over the single mothers of potential transfer portal entrants. Sometimes it’s somebody on the outside. But all too often, it’s a family member who has no idea what he is doing other than putting his hand out for a payday for the player and himself.
Jackson has said he isn’t interested in hearing from street agents unless they are willing to strap up or at least be responsible when the player isn’t doing what he is supposed to be doing.
“The uncle to the single mom is my worst nightmare in recruiting,” Jackson said. “The uncle who thought he could play but he couldn’t and he had to go to work; he’s always talking about something that don’t matter. There are some good agents out there. Can’t take that away from them, but I think we need some regulations with that.”
