The calendar needs to be fixed. But that's easier said than done.
As Ucla fans, we want the portal to open at least a couple of weeks before the Spring Quarter starts. A player has to be enrolled in school for the Spring Quarter in order to participate in spring ball.
And I think if you look over the last 4 or 5 years, the transfers that have participated in spring ball have been MUCH MORE successful than those transfers who didn't have the benefit of spring ball.
The only "summer" transfer who made a huge contribution in year 1 (starter, played well, etc) that I can remember was Raiqwon O'Neal in 2022.
If I'm the Ucla head coach, I want guys to join my program in January, when the off-season s&c program kicks off. 3 months of Ucla-level conditioning, so they can perform during spring ball and give the coaches an accurate evaluation look.
So from a Ucla perspective, the start of the portal in December is good!
Does the December portal make things crazy af for the staff? Hell yeah. HS recruiting, bowl game prep, key guy retention, maybe coaching staff turnover.. and also tp recruiting visits? FML, amirite?
But that's why they get paid the big kahuna. They can sleep a bit in February.
The move to a "one portal" calendar where the portal opens in the spring would absolutely rat fvck Ucla. Ucla is way more successful recruiting the tp than it is recruiting hs. A later window will prevent Ucla from ingesting new kids successfully.
Who does a spring portal window benefit? Schools that snag highly rated hs classes....ugh, sc, bammy, Texas, tOSU, etc.
They get some extra time to convince kids to stick around, for one thing.