Love it or hate it, the transfer portal has become a fixture in modern college sports.
Cal State Bakersfield basketball fans were undoubtedly reminded of its influence as they watched Taze Moore, who had spent years showing off his scoring skills in the Icardo Center, suddenly starring for Houston in the Cougars' run to the Elite Eight.
Moore left Bakersfield as a graduate transfer, having completed his degree at CSUB, and thus taking advantage of a rule that had already been in place for 15 years in order to avoid sitting out a season. But what has really kicked the portal into overdrive is the new NCAA policy, implemented almost exactly a year ago, allowing athletes in all sports — and not just graduates — the opportunity to transfer schools once without missing any time.
Combined with the ever-escalating role of social media and an increased focus on player empowerment, this new rule has transformed the transfer portal into a 24-hour free-agent frenzy. At the time of writing, recruiting website Verbal Commits has logged 44 entries or transactions for men's basketball alone in the last day.
As a mid-major program — with the chance to acquire players coming up from lower levels and coming down from higher ones, while also trying to re-recruit its own athletes — CSUB finds itself at the center of this tumult.
The men's basketball team had six players enter the portal; meanwhile, the Roadrunner staff, including head coach Rod Barnes, who has expressed his dissatisfaction this offseason with the current state of the portal, has spent March and April tirelessly hunting for transfer talent, and CSUB has been linked on social media to players such as Jamel Horton (Albany), Jefferson Koulibaly (Washington State), Paris Dawson (Portland State), Zion Young (Oakland) and more.
This all-encompassing pursuit is unfolding at practically every college across many sports, which means it's bound to affect a variety of local athletes.
Whether they're using the new transfer rules or the old ones, here are some updates on all the athletes with Kern County connections moving around this offseason.
Change of heart: Or, in some case, not moving around. Defensive back Justin Harrington became one of Bakersfield College's highest-profile Division I players in recent years when he signed with Oklahoma, beginning his first season with the Sooners in 2020. But after a redshirt year recovering from an injury and a slow start to 2021, Harrington entered the portal. Then, like so many other college football players, he got swept up in the aftermath of Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley's move to USC and subsequent replacement by Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables. After responding "Wish I could" to a fan's suggestion on Twitter in January that he rejoin the team under Venables, Harrington was back with the Sooners by April 1, this time as a walk-on per recent comments from the new coach, and will compete for playing time.
Homecoming: The CSUB volleyball team is welcoming back a local standout, Ava Palm, after the team announced her arrival from UTEP on April 7. Palm, a BHS alumna, sister of onetime BC setter Sophia Palm and daughter of former CSUB basketball player Vance Palm, was selected to the C-USA All-Conference Freshman Team in spring 2021 after leading the Miners in aces and recording three double-doubles. But she saw her playing time diminish as UTEP made a National Invitational Volleyball Championship run the following season. Now, as the Roadrunners' latest local player after Emily Hansen, Palm will join Giovana Melo's squad as it tries to replace four departing seniors and improve on last year's 18-11 finish.
Wolfpack joiner: Another top scoring threat on CSUB teams of the recent past, Jarkel Joiner left for Ole Miss in his hometown Oxford, Miss., in 2019, after two years in Bakersfield. At the time, he had to sit out a year under the past rules. Now, after leading the Rebels in scoring with 13.2 points per game in the 2021-22 season, he's on the move again, this time to NC State. Both Ole Miss and NC State had sub-.500 seasons and lost in opening-round conference tournament games, but Joiner will look to close his college career on a high note next year.
Separate ways: With 13 wins on the season, CSUB's No. 1 beach volleyball pairing of Cameron Solberg and Milica Vukobrat is one away from a team record. The combo has played together for four years and both were honored at Senior Day, but next season, each will use a final year of eligibility (due to the pandemic) to test the waters in Florida at top-20 programs. Solberg, the first-ever four-year beach-only player in Bakersfield, will attend Stetson, while Vukobrat will compete at Florida International, with each pursuing master's degrees in the process.
