Trampoline schools are schools known for transferring their players or sending them somewhere else. Teams like Baylor, Miami, Alabama, Florida State, and even NC State fall under this category of Trampoline schools.
In the past year, Miami has had 14 players released from their program to play football somewhere else. That’s a large number in just one year. Alabama is a Trampoline school as well, but for a player to leave Alabama, the player must choose a school that will not play Alabama in the near future.
Players like former 2012 four-star recruit, Chris Black, had the chance to play somewhere else after leaving Alabama.
Trampoline schools are there for players who had the hype and talent coming out of high school but went to a big boy school, like Florida State, and did not get a chance to play or shine.
Trampoline schools help with the cycle of little schools beating the big schools. They provide lesser known schools with enough quality talent to compete on the same field as Oklahoma.
Miami and USC are probably the most notable schools that get good talent, but with so many coaching changes that some solid players get lost in the system of coaching changes. Max Browne, former quarterback of USC, is a prime example of a player using the Trampoline system. Browne transferred to Pittsburgh because he lost his starting job to Sam Darnold.
Some players use the Trampoline system in a different way than Max Browne. Russell Wilson, quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, was one of the first recognizable players to use the Trampoline.
He was a star quarterback for NC State, Russell Wilson was fearless and a little short. He had graduated early from NC State and decide to leave the program for Wisconsin. He had already proven he could win at the highest level of college football when he played in the ACC, but Wilson decided to take a stab at the Big 10. He was already good, but in that one season at Wisconsin, Wilson became great.
That is what trampoline schools are, schools where players can leave and bounce back quickly to another program and thrive.
(Featured Photo via Athlon Sports)