The Iowa football team hasn’t been known to dabble heavily in the transfer portal, but it has been useful at times. It’s how the Hawkeyes ended up with Mark Weisman for example.
The times have changed since the Weisman era though, and the transfer portal is hotter than ever. At this point, it seems like basically anyone can transfer wherever they want whenever they want without suffering any sort of penalties. The NCAA appears to be loosening its grip on college athlete’s futures.
Because of this, players such as Justin Fields and Tate Martell can transfer to other schools and play right away despite having not graduated yet.