A transfer who was required to sit out the first half of the Arizona high school football season can now play in the remainder of the game.
Does that mean a winner for the school?
That happened last year for the Scottsdale Saguaro, after quarterback Devon Dampier, a Phoenix Pinnacle transfer, became eligible after losing to the Sabercats at the midway point of the season. He took over the starting duties and the Sabercats took off from there, winning their first Open Division state championship.
The off-season transfer became eligible to begin play last week in the 4A through 6A conference, after sitting out the first five games as required by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.
The question now is: Who will be next to see the big payoff from the transfer? And that raises another key question: Should the current transfer rules change?
Some coaches in Arizona wonder if the rule should work the other way around, like in Ohio, which in 2018 adopted a transfer rule that makes athletes eligible for the first half of the season, but requires them to sit out the second half, including the playoffs.
The AIA plans to review the current transfer rules in the next few weeks.
David Hines, executive director of the AIA, said a group of athletic directors had been brought together to discuss transfer rules. The move was prompted more by the explosion of prep basketball colleges in the Valley, which has raised the issue of how to deal with student-athletes who go to prep colleges and then want to return to AIA schools to play.
“We’re always evaluating our laws,” Hines said. “Kind of taking a deep dive into the Bylaws. There has been a discussion over time but nothing has really changed since we made it change to 50% a while back.”
In the meantime, there are several football teams that could see immediate benefits this season from transfers who can now play:
• Chandler Basha could get an extra boost for the championship behind three Mesa Eastmark transfers: defensive lineman Jordan Howard; tight end Javery Mayberry; and running again Javien Celaya.
• Goodyear Desert Edge could get an extra gear with wide receiver Kezion Dia-Johnson eligible after leaving Laveen Cesar Chavez.
• Chandler could get more defensive firepower and linebacker Talib Graham is poised to make an impact after transferring from Hamilton.
• The Cactus offense could get a jump-start from quarterback Rudy Gonzales, who transferred from Glendale Deer Valley.
That rule does not apply to out-of-state athletes, who can come to Arizona and find immediate eligibility as long as they don’t start at an AIA school in their high school career.
Chandler won his first Open title of 2019 behind Dae Dae Hunter, a transfer-in from Colorado. Hamilton rolled behind several players who transferred from Colorado during the pandemic year in 2020, led by quarterback Nicco Marchio, as the Huskies came away with just one title.
This year, Chandler is led by top 2024 national recruit Dylan Raiola, a high-profile quarterback whose family moved from Texas. He has led the Wolves to a top-10 national ranking.
Coaches differ on transfer rule
Football coaches are all over the map on the topic, which violates a satisfactory solution. See the article : Barch Named Associate Dean for Research in Arts and Sciences – The Source.
Chandler football coach Rick Garretson said in an email that he doesn’t believe student athletes should sit out any games after transferring.
“Let’s not act like transfers are a new thing,” Garretson said. “Students must be able to attend schools in Arizona, including transfers.”
Chandler Prep football coach Frank Peake said there is a misconception that young athletes who want college recruiting exposure must transfer to elite programs.
“This may be the case if you are a top 1% player, but the reality for most players is that if you want to play at the next level, assuming you can play well, you can find a place to play,” said Peake. “It may not be D-I but you can get there. Being a big fish in a small pond can be better than a small fish in a big pond.”
He believes the transfer rules are important for smaller programs like his.
“Sitting after transfers is the only thing that prevents dominant, large, usually public school teams from all but eliminating programs at smaller, outlying schools,” Peake said. “If not, most of the top athletes will move out.”
The state’s open enrollment law has been a major factor in transfers. Adopted in 1994, it applies to all students, not just high school athletes, but makes it easier to transfer to play elsewhere, eliminating the need to reside within the boundaries of a public school district.
Today’s question for top athletes: Do you play for your local high school or go somewhere else to compete?
“I’m a firm believer in playing for your school,” Tucson Amphitheater football coach Jorge Mendivil said. “All these transfers will stop if they say, ‘If you transfer, you can play immediately in the first half of the season, but you have to sit out the last half and the playoffs.’
“Open enrollment is fine. But to compare us to college is not the answer.”
The main concern among many coaches is the perceived recruitment of youth programs to the 7-on-7 tournaments that take place during the offseason, something that has really taken place in 2018. Such events can make or break high school football. program based on his influence on certain teams’ 7-on-7 clubs.
“Nothing was anticipated,” Lakeside Blue Ridge football coach Jeremy Hathcock said. He said one of the reasons he left for White Mountains after leading Mesa Desert Ridge for 13 seasons was that he was tired of players moving since the advent of the 7-on-7s club.
“There are a lot of street agents out there,” he said.
Look at the top high school programs in Arizona and you will see a solid youth feeder program. However, because of the open enrollment law, nothing prevents players from youth programs in, say, the West Valley from attending a high school to play football in the East Valley.
In 2014, The Arizona Republic examined the rise of youth teams catering to high schools in a story titled, “Football power grows with minor league youth system.” It explained how teams would rent out high school fields and coaches couldn’t help but watch them play.
Out of bounds: The increase in abuse makes it difficult to find officials for high school sports in Arizona
Responses to ‘destiny programs’
Due to the influx of transfers into the “destiny” program, the AIA decided to start the Open Division playoffs in 2019, pitting the top eight teams from the big schools regardless of conference. On the same subject : College Football Rankings: RJ Young’s Top 25 Preseason 2022. The AIA also started the annual promotion/demotion of teams between the six football conferences based on success over a three-year period.
Snowflake moved up from 3A to 4A this season, along with Yuma Catholic and American Leadership Gilbert North because it was so good in 3A. Snowflake has lost most of its rival White Mountains.
“In Arizona, if you’re good, they just move you to a different division, change your schedule, take away rivalry games, put everything on a one-year block, so they make sure you play the toughest team,” Hathcock said. “The only real way to build a big program again is to fail, go down a division, do well, then go back to where you belong and hope it doesn’t fall apart. All this because it’s a way to control transfer kids? I don’t understand. It’s not true “
Senior head coach Josh Denhalter, who has been an assistant at larger city schools such as Gilbert Williams Field and American Leadership Gilbert North, believes that recruiting happens naturally with parents talking to other parents.
“It’s very rare that I see coaches involved, and I’ve never been a part of a program where I’ve seen one of our coaches explicitly recruit,” Denhalter said. “At ALA-GN, one of our best players was recruited by a big school.
“I saw a text message from the coach. It was centered around the claim that kids can’t get (college) offers in small schools. The ironic thing is that the school was one of the schools to point fingers at us when the AIA put us in the probationary period that first season, “he said. “Regardless of seeing this happen, I don’t blame the kids or their parents. This family is trying to do what’s right for them. I have kids and I will send them wherever I think they will be most successful and find happiness. This is true for my eighth grade son in marching.” band, and my seventh grade football.
Denhalter’s attitude is to let the kids move and not have to lose games in order to be successful.
“But the coach should still just record the hallway,” he said.
‘Blatant and it’s ugly’
Tucson Pueblo football coach Jake Allen said he believes recruiting in southern Arizona is as big a problem as it is in the Phoenix metro area. See the article : The Dansby Swanson Braves star eventually feels at home in Atlanta.
“I’ve talked to my own players and parents about other high school coaches’ conversations and they’ve said they’ll get better college recruiting at their school if they transfer,” Allen said.
“It’s blatant and ugly. This isn’t an eighth grader we’re talking about. It’s a varsity athlete. There are kids who are bussed in town. Every coach in town knows four or five schools that do this type of dirty recruiting. It’s a big problem . And out in the open like that, it’s incredibly shocking that the AIA seems so oblivious to it.”
Allen said he had one varsity player transfer this year, and it was due to a family relocation.
“But we’re playing a team in a region game that will basically have a new starting lineup after Game 5,” Allen said. “I’m 100% in favor of changing the rules to move changes in the last half of the season and the playoffs. I know it will curb this problem drastically.”
Hines said revisions to the transfer rules would come from a board made up of school administrators, who would vote on any changes.
Every time Hines attends a national convention, he asks other directors from the 49 states and Washington D.C. what they’re doing with their transfer rules and if it’s working. There is no perfect answer.
“Here’s the thing, the landscape of athletics, the competition of sports has changed in the last 20 years,” Hines said. “For a variety of different reasons. With the internet, people have more access to do research. People are moving from out of state and within the state. Parents are pretty savvy. And kids are very savvy. They’re going to find out if they’re moving to another area.”
“This is not new. Not except for Arizona. This happens all over the country. Club sports, what we see, there are more kids playing for clubs that have stuck together. And state law, if it comes in. as a new student, OK, that’s your chance . There is your portal. The problem is when the second, third or fourth transfer.
To suggest human interest and other news story ideas, contact Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.
