After transferring to Fordham University in 2023, C.J Montes was Fordham Football’s starting quarterback in 2024 before suffering a season-ending leg injury. After the 2024 season, Montes had to decide whether to remain a Fordham Ram or enter the collegiate athletics’ transfer system, known as the NCAA transfer portal, and leave for a new program.
Montes entered the transfer portal and decided to take his talents to Kent State University, a Division One program that competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
“Joining a new team, you know that they aren’t going to hand you the job, but you know they bought you in for a reason,” said Montes. “The transfer portal could either hurt or help any team.”
Fordham is also a Division One program but is a member of the Football Championship Series (FCS). According to the NCAA’s most recent poll, 88.6% of players in the National Football League (NFL) are players who played in the FBS, suggesting it’s the more competitive level of Division One football.
The current NCAA transfer portal allows FBS programs to offer scholarships to FCS players who enter the transfer portal during the offseason. Montes has experienced the process of transferring between sub-divisions.
“FBS schools that didn’t take certain guys seriously see them play in the FCS and they’re like wow, he can really play,” Montes said. “Nowadays you have your top guys for one year and watch them leave.”
Having star players for a limited amount of time and watching them transfer is a growing theme in the FCS, according to statistics. Every year, an increasing number of student-athletes enter the transfer portal. Each off-season, more college football players transfer from the FCS to the FBS.
Montes is no stranger to the difference in levels, he has already played in the FBS at New Mexico State, before joining Fordham. He says the FBS offers student-atheletes things the FCS doesn’t.
“Not everybody gets the same opportunity as the players who went FBS,” said Montes. “In the FBS, you have more resources, even outside of athletics like study hall and tutoring.”
The NCAA took another step towards bigger, richer programs gaining an advantage over smaller programs when the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness policy (N.I.L) was introduced in 2021, according to Montes.
“It’s been harder for coaches to recruit. If you don’t have the money, you’re going to get out– recruited by other schools that have the resources,” Montes explained. “I think it’s (N.I.L) created more divas, guys will go from college to college looking for contracts and say, oh I need a car, or I need to be flown out.”
Montes’ former coach, Fordham Football Head Coach Joe Conlin, has experience with players going from one school to another and one league to another. He has been coaching since before the transfer portal was introduced and he’s now going into his eighth season as a head coach in the transfer portal era.
According to Conlin, there are nuances that come with coaching in the transfer portal era. He says the new era of college football comes with a lack of roster stability.
“At certain levels of the game it seems like you have to come up with a brand-new roster every year,” said Conlin. “You have to have constant communication with your team, you can’t pretend it (NCAA transfer portal) doesn’t exist.”
Conlin says coaches and student-atheletes have to be open with one another about intentions and aspirations in today’s brand of college football.
“You have to be honest with your guys about it and you have to ask them to be honest with you,” he said. “I tell players, door’s not closed here but if you’re going to go to the portal, I’m going to go to the portal.”
Conlin watched multiple Fordham Rams transfer to the FBS during the 2024 offseason. Along with C.J Montes, two-year team captain at Fordham, Ryan Joyce, transferred to Old Dominion University (ODU).
Joyce says he was a popular recruit in the transfer portal, which gave him confidence.
“When I first hopped into the transfer portal, I had interest from about 20 different schools, it’s kind of like the wild west in there,” Joyce said. “It was nice to know a lot of people wanted me.”
Joyce mentioned leaving Fordham was a tough choice, he was a Fordham Ram for longer than other players who transferred out such as Montes.
“I’m able to play a seventh year of college football, which is a little more common these days but it didn’t feel like a lot,” he said. “I learned a lot at Fordham, it was a hard decision, but I’m happy with where I am.”
Joyce isn’t the only member of Fordham’s program who transferred to Old Dominion. Former Fordham QB, Grant Wilson, and former Fordham coaches, Kevin Decker, David Weeks and Alex Huettel all took their talents to ODU over the past few off-seasons.
Joyce says joining a program with former teammates and coaches of his was a factor in choosing ODU, along with having confidence he would be on the field there.
“As a one-year of eligibility player, it was important for me to find somewhere where I’d play right away,” he said. “Having those familiar faces here was a big reason I came here.”
Joyce explained that his decision to enter the portal was driven by the opportunity to compete at the FBS level. He says the transfer portal allows him to accomplish a goal of his.
“I’m able to live my dream of playing football at a higher level,” Joyce said. “We have an NIL program, more funding, bigger facilities,” he explained. “Fordham is a great school but was more limited in those departments.”
Student-athletes having the ability to chase their dreams benefits college football, according to WFAN anchor and Fordham Football play-by-play announcer, Andrew Bogusch.
“I’m a strong believer in players’ rights to move around,” said Bogusch. “It’s been way out of balance for too long, where coaches could do whatever they want, and players were stuck on rosters and forced to figure it out or sit out.
While standing up for the student-athletes, Bogusch said he understands why coaches may have different opinions about the transfer portal than players.
“I feel coaches’ frustration because they want to have organization and clarity,” he said.“I get why it’s frustrating when they lose guys and things change.”
Although changes can be frustrating for coaches according to Bogusch, he says roster changes are a concept Fordham should strive for in the transfer portal era.
“You have to take guys moving up almost as a compliment, you were able to bring a guy of this caliber in and keep them going in the right direction now that higher programs want him,” he said.
Bogusch says that FCS programs like Fordham have to be content with athletes utilizing the portal in today’s college football environment.
“You want your football players and coaches to come to Fordham, have a lot of success and then move up,” he said. “Unless they really love Fordham and want to stay, which is also great for teams.”
One Fordham Ram who fits Bogusch’s description of a player who had great success at Fordham but chose to stay is Fordham’s All-American linebacker, James Conway.
“There’s still a ton to accomplish, since I’ve been here at Fordham, we’ve never won the league, we haven’t beat Holy Cross,” said Conway. “I’m looking forward to all of those things.”
Coach Conlin said, “Jimmy (Conway) would’ve had multiple offers,” if he entered the transfer portal.
Although he chose to remain a Ram, Conway said he had thoughts about the transfer portal.
“The portal is so big it’s almost impossible to not think about,” said Conway. “You see some offers other guys get and it makes you think, well what can I get?”
Along with having a lot to accomplish still at Fordham, Conway acknowledged the respect he received at Fordham throughout his career.
“All of the people here have been really good to me,” said Conway. “I think they developed me well and put a lot into me.”
Even though did not leave his original team, Conway said he experienced the transfer portal’s impact on college football throughout his career.
“No one was really transferring at first, I think maybe people bought into programs a little bit more,” said Conway. “I think it might be harder for guys to buy into a team because if things don’t work out at first guys can always just hit the transfer portal.”
Coach Conlin emphasized the meaning of a player like Conway choosing to stay at one program during the transfer portal era.
“For the team, Jimmy staying is huge, it proves he believes in the team,” said Conlin. “It even motivates you as a coach when you see a guy like Jimmy buy in.”
“You want to do a great job to show those guys what they meant to you when they chose to slug it out with you,” said Conlin.
Although Conlin mentioned players staying at his program is hugely important, he also said that it is important to, “learn to adapt,” to today’s college football landscape.
Andrew Bogusch second’s the belief that FCS programs like Fordham have to adapt their gameplan and culture to the transfer portal era.
“It’s okay that Fordham is a steppingstone to bigger and better programs,” said Bogusch. “That’s just the lay of the land.”
Bogusch believes Fordham should aim to be comfortable with star players transferring to bigger programs.
However, James Conway has experienced teammates leaving the team from a players perspective.
“I think the portal affected us a lot this season. Obviously having C.J (Montes) leave was a big deal because that’s the most important position,” said Conway.
Conway acknowledged the team’s plan to accommodate for losing Montes to the transfer portal, and it includes Fordham utilizing the transfer portal themselves.
“We’ve had some quarterbacks transfer in as well,” Conway mentioned.
Fordham added Gunnar Smith in the 2025 off-season, a junior quarterback transfer from the University of Central Florida. The addition of Smith aligns with Bogusch’s opinion on how Fordham can be successful in the transfer portal era. By adjusting to players leaving.
“Part of your job as a coach now is to find these fixes on the fly immediately,” said Bogusch. “Conlin has the ability to go out there and find guys to come in and fill specific positions.”
Bogusch says Fordham has to be confident in their decision making through the transfer portal, considering their resume when it comes to utilizing the portal.
“They have to trust these fixes too, because they were right about C.J so maybe they’re right about Gunnar Smith,” said Bogusch. “Maybe he’s going to be good and maybe he leaves, and you do it over again.”
“This situation is just like when Fordham needed a quarterback and they found C.J Montes and he was great for a year,” said Bogusch.
We are in an era where NCAA football is experiencing transferring at a rate that’s never been seen before. Athletic programs are legally paying players for their talents for the first time in history.
Coaches and sports journalists agree that adapting to the new version of college football is important for success. Fordham’s navigation through the new land of college football exposes these changes’ effects on programs nationwide.
As C.J Montes said, “Nowadays you have your top guy for one year and watch them leave.”
