A portal of unknown intent or nature has opened, gashing the fabric of the space-time continuum. Our college football players are now plummeting through dimensional layers until they eventually land at another school.

Our experience with portals is mostly limited to Minecraft and the Chronicles of Narnia. The acclaimed documentary series, Stargate, gave us a harrowing look at the capabilities of these mysterious portals. Anyone who played Halo: Combat Evolved can probably recall the endless maze of portals featured in multiplayer.

Behold the classic map, Chill Out. The most memorable feature on this map was the array of portals. I spent countless hours screen-looking on my little brother to find out which portals he was using. He doesn’t even read these so he’ll still have no clue as to why I was so dominant in our childhood. Some call it cheating, some call it scouting.

What’s at work here is far more serious; college football players are allowed to test the transfer waters without being hindered by their coaches! Every hour more and more names are appearing in the transfer portal. Tate Martell, Jalen Hurts and many more could be lost from their current schools forever. Where they will end up is still hotly debated by current experts.

Michigan State’s Mufi Hill-Hunt declared on Twitter, ‘I am now in the portal’ in regards to his decision to transfer. Does this mean it is a physical place? Is he trapped? Is the portal a guide or a vessel? There are far more questions than there are answers.

There was also this. Juwan Johnson seemingly entered the portal of his own free will. The veteran receiver will almost certainly end up elsewhere. At this time, however, there’s no way of telling where exactly the portal will take him.

The one thing we know for sure is that this portal will become a fixture for many offseasons to come. For better or for worse, it is now a significant part of our offseason lives.