The transfer portal was supposed to give players a second chance to start over. Instead, for thousands of players, it has turned into a retirement trap. But what if there’s a haven for such players to fulfill their dreams? Turns out, there is, and that is the Ohio State Club Football program. 

“Come to @OhioState and continue your career as both a student and an athlete! We play NAIA, NCAA, and JUCO competition while competing at an NCAA DIII level.”

That’s the pitch from Ohio State Club Football, 4x National Club Football Association (NCFA) national champions in 2019, 2021, 2024, and 2025. The portal looks like a lifeline from the outside. Social media turned it into college football free agency overnight. One viral commitment post and backup LBs at a D2 school start imagining themselves playing under P4 lights. But the numbers tell a much uglier story.

Expo Recruits reported that 62% of D2 football players and 79% of D3 athletes who have entered the transfer portal have retired. It means a player voluntarily gave up his current roster spot, entered the portal hoping for something better, and found out that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. 

For many of these players, it’s not just a roster spot they lose. It’s the locker room, the Friday night bus rides, the feeling that they’re part of something bigger. One day, they’re suiting up on a campus field; the next, they’re packing cleats into a shoebox, thinking they’ve played their last game.

The reality is that not all of them are going to get an offer from a team. Thousands of these players were never actually transfer targets to begin with. A lot of them were victims of hype. One trainer could tell them they’re “too good for D2.” Or maybe they find clips of former FCS stars landing NIL deals because that’s what it is now. Social media convinces these young players that everybody is upgrading schools and earning. 

Then the truth hits, but by then, it’s too late. Once players enter the portal, schools move on. They recruit replacements immediately. So when a player changes his mind weeks later, the old locker is usually gone already. And the market itself is overcrowded. More than 10,000 football players entered the portal in a recent cycle. Even at the D1 level, over 2,200 players still haven’t found homes, per reports. 

With so many players still searching for a program, thousands end up with no real options. For many of them, the only real choice is to walk away from the game instead of getting another chance. For a lot of these kids, the portal was sold as a fresh start. They imagined new uniforms, bigger crowds, and maybe even a ticket back to Division I. What they didn’t see coming was months of radio silence from coaches, canceled calls, and an inbox that never fills with real offers.

So what do those FBS players do? Their only path is to transfer downward and take spots at Group of Five schools while G5 players drop to FCS. Then FCS players flood D2. That’s the picture we don’t normally see behind portal movements. And that’s where Ohio State Club Football becomes a lifeline. While the club can’t save every player, it has already become a second home for dozens of former college athletes who once thought their careers were over.

For players who thought their careers were over, that word, “lifeline,” isn’t just a cliché. It’s a practice jersey with the Block O, a chance to line up on special teams, or a shot at walking into the same weight room as future NFL players. It’s football when they believed they’d never play it again.

Ohio State’s Club Program is becoming the safety net

Ohio State Club Football was founded in 2009 by Joe Budgake, Marshal Carpenter, and Jordan Fleischman with one mission. They weren’t building a charity case. They were giving scholarship‑less and cut players a place where they could still chase the locker‑room dream, even if it meant scraping together funds and scheduling games around classes.

“The Ohio State Club Football program provides the opportunity for students at Ohio State to play full-contact, 11 v. 11 football while still pursuing a Big Ten education,” it wrote on its homepage. “The Buckeyes are a member of the National Club Football Association (NCFA) and operate out of the Club Sports office at Ohio State.”

Ohio State Club Football joined the NCFA in 2012 and quickly became a powerhouse. They now own four national championships and routinely play competition comparable to NCAA D3 and JUCO levels. They’ve even gone 8-5 all-time against NCAA D3 JV programs, including wins over schools like Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Denison University.

Ohio State Club Football has already sent multiple players to the varsity Buckeyes. Take Ian Gecse, who joined the club team in 2024 and immediately became one of its best players, contributing at TE and DE. In the 2024 NCFA National Championship Game, he made a 34-yard catch that helped set up the game-winning TD in a 20-13 victory. That performance earned him an invitation to join Ryan Day’s varsity roster, where he eventually transitioned to O-line.

Then there’s Glorien Gough and Zach Hayes. Both dominated during their freshman club seasons in 2023 and became First Team NCFA All-Americans and earned walk-on opportunities with Ohio State’s varsity program. And both eventually appeared on special teams during a 70-0 win over Grambling State.

For the players who thought the portal had ended their run, Ohio State Club Football offers one more chance to stay in the game. It offers a kind of ending where they lace up one more time, chase one more goal, and remind themselves why they started playing football in the first place.