I feel like the number of athletes transferring nationwide has increased in the last couple of decades.
However, it's hard to find accessible data. It could be that I perceive more players are transferring simply because I have more access to information now than I did in the 80's and 90's. Before the internet became widespread it was uncommon to get news of nonimpact athletes from other schools that chose to transfer.
In 2010- 11 5% of all college football players transferred. That's a fairly large number. There are approximately 120 schools competing in the FBS division. With 85 scholarships each that comes out to 10,200 football players in FBS alone. That means over 500 FBS football players transferred in that one season. It averages out to 4.25 per school.
There are another 680 schools with 21,479 scholarship athletes that play below the FBS level. All together, approximately 1,584 college football players transferred schools in 2010- 11.
It's more of the same in college basketball. The annual transfer rate for men's basketball has been above 10 percent since the mid-2000s, according to NCAA data. There were 445 transfers in 2010-11 (10.7 percent), 421 in 2009-10 (10.1 percent) and 439 in 2008-09 (10.6 percent). In 2010-11 8.2 percent of women's basketball players transferred.
"ESPN's Dave Telep, who has covered recruiting for 16 years, said the skyrocketing transfer rate has impacted high schools as well. He sees a connection with sports trends in general such as free agency and one-and-dones."
"The (college) transfer rate mimics the transfer rate in high schools and among AAU teams," he said. "As a society we've enabled this generation to go to the next opportunity. They haven't learned to fight through adversity. They just look for their next chance. All they're doing is mimicking what they see."
"The patience level of kids is not quite what it used to be," ex-Illinois basketball coach Groce said. "When I played, when you were a freshman and sophomore you kind of knew you had to pay your dues. ... That mind-set has changed. Kids want it now."
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/col...cle_354e52cc-dc31-5cd6-b0bd-64d74d03fa9d.html
https://www.active.com/football/articles/crunching-the-numbers-football-scholarships