It’s December 16.

Penn State plays its first College Football Playoff game in program history in five days after a successful 11-1 regular season campaign that resulted in the Nittany Lions’ appearance in the Big Ten Championship game for the first time since 2016.

However, despite the regular season success and impending playoff opportunity, backup quarterback Beau Pribula announced Sunday night that he’s entering the transfer portal and will not be with the team for the postseason.

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— Beau Pribula (@beauprib) December 16, 2024

Pribula’s immediate departure from the program was a tough pill to swallow for Penn State fans. Labeling him as Penn State’s “backup quarterback” is unfairly downplaying the impact Pribula’s had on the Nittany Lions’ offense this season.

This season, including the Big Ten Championship game against Oregon, Pribula had 275 passing yards and five passing touchdowns. On the ground, he rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki frequently used Pribula in a package with Drew Allar lined up out wide.

Perhaps Pribula’s most significant contribution to the Nittany Lions this season was his performance against Wisconsin. After Allar went down against the Badgers with an injury, Pribula came into the game and led the Nittany Lions to a comeback victory, completing 11 of 13 passes with 98 passing yards and a touchdown.

There’s no denying that Pribula played an important role in Penn State’s offense this year, so fans were understandably upset when he announced that he would be entering the transfer portal and departing the program in advance of the team’s College Football Playoff game against SMU.

Some fans blamed Pribula himself, calling him selfish for departing the program rather than sticking it out through the end of the season. Unfortunately, his decision was not that simple. The current transfer portal calendar creates a system that encourages players to leave their teams before the postseason.

The transfer portal opened on Monday, December 9, and will close on December 28. The portal will then briefly re-open in April to give student-athletes one last chance to move schools. Additionally, athletes from schools that finish their seasons after December 28 due to bowl games or the playoff will have five days following the end of their seasons to enter the portal.

The issue with this calendar is obvious. Players actively depart their programs right before the postseason, particularly troublesome for teams like Penn State who are set to compete in the playoffs. No other major sport in the United States opens its free agency period in the middle of the postseason.

Even Pribula himself seemed frustrated with the current calendar and the unfortunate situation it forces players into, commenting on the timeline in his portal announcement.

“The current NCAA model creates a challenge for student-athletes. The overlapping CFB playoff and transfer portal timeline has forced me into an impossible decision,” Pribula wrote.

Theoretically, Pribula could have waited until after the Nittany Lions’ season was over and entered the portal in the five-day window that would follow. However, this would severely hurt his ability to find the right new home. At that point, many schools that need a new quarterback may have already found their guy, leaving Pribula a few weeks behind and potentially without a good landing spot.

If Pribula wants to do what’s best for himself and his career, he needs to give himself the best shot possible at finding a starting position somewhere else next season. Waiting to enter the portal would jeopardize that possibility. The unfortunate timing of Pribula’s departure isn’t selfish, but rather a necessary personal decision for him that demonstrates the flaws in the transfer portal timeline.

Key offensive members of playoff-bound teams should not feel like they have to depart their team early to have a shot at finding a new home. The system shouldn’t be designed in a way that encourages players to have to make the decision Pribula did, choosing between his future and his loyalty to his team.

The calendar needs to be changed. I see no reason why the portal needs to open before the season is over. Just like every other major sport: play the season, crown a champion, then open “free agency.” The portal should only open after the national championship game, opening on the same day for every team only after the season is over.

The landscape of college football is rapidly changing, and part of that change involves identifying areas that need improvement and correcting those areas. The NCAA needs to examine situations like Pribula’s and understand why the transfer portal timeline is a disaster that needs resolving.