When the NCAA ratified new legislation in April 2021 that allowed college athletes in all sports to transfer once without having to sit out a year, the decision became something of a Rorschach test. For some, it was an overdue gesture to athletes whose freedom and movement was far more restricted than the coaches under whom they play. For others, it marked the start of free agency in college sports and all the chaos they believed would come with it.

Whatever the feelings were at the time, the rule has had a profound, transformative impact. One of the biggest consequences of it is something that should give Colorado fans and anyone else who supports a downtrodden program hope – the days of the long and arduous rebuild may be over.

In the year and a half since the rule passed, a number of Football Bowl Subdivision programs have reinvented themselves effectively on the fly, bypassing the years of toil and patience that previously had to be endured before a program rose to prominence. With the advent of the transfer portal, which is teeming with experienced college players looking for a new home, the growing pains of waiting for high-school recruits to mature over a several-year period have been severely lessened. Developing those young players from the time they arrive on campus is still an integral part of program-building, of course, but when paired with veterans who can immediately step into prominent roles, that transition is significantly smoother.

Which brings us to Colorado.