Drexel hoops gives players a chance to move to top programs. Zach Spiker sees beauty behind that.

As a mid-major Division I basketball program, Drexel has experienced the highs and lows of the transfer portal. Throughout his time as head coach, Zach Spiker has seen players depart for Wichita State, Minnesota, Penn State, St. Louis, and, most recently, Kentucky after the departure of Amari Williams this offseason, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year in the Coastal Athletic Association.

In other words, Drexel, like other Big 5 programs, has discovered and developed recruits for high-major programs.

However, many could view this as a manifestation of the ever-growing inequities in college athletics, Spiker does not view it in that light. Instead, he views the portal as an opportunity to improve not only his program but also the lives of the players he is able to bring into it.

“Every situation is what you make it, and if you lament the guidelines and rules that you have to play by and restrictions you have, and you get down and negative, you won’t have success with it,” said Spiker. “If you are willing to see the positive side of a scenario such as this and realize where you can impact people and help change their lives and give them access to a Drexel degree, then it’s a great positive, right? It is what you make it, and we are choosing to adapt with a positive mindset and figure out the best way to move forward for our basketball program and our university.”

According to On3.com’s transfer portal tool, 1,090 players entered the Division I transfer portal for basketball between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Depending on the year, the portal may bring your favorite team an infusion of excitement or a series of gut punches as the players you watched grow from projects to prospects head for greener pastures. While it is easy to view the portal through a macro lens, in reality, it holds thousands of unique stories of student-athletes looking to make the most of their time as Division I players.

Two players who landed at Drexel via the portal are seniors Yame Butler and Garfield Turner. Butler, a guard, and Turner, a forward who will miss this season with a knee injury, took circuitous routes to Drexel, and yet have found a home in University City over the past two seasons. Their stories capture the reality that the portal is a vehicle of opportunity and upheaval to programs.

Both Maryland natives, Turner and Butler were high school standouts who were unable to secure Division I scholarships at the end of their senior year. They pursued a postgrad year to prove they could play at the next level.

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Butler earned a scholarship from Fordham, but his one season in the Bronx was derailed by the pandemic.

“We ended up having like, six or seven quarantines for two weeks each time,” Butler said. “And I just wasn’t the same person that year. After all that, I wasn’t able to get in the gym.”

But the pandemic was just one complication he faced.

“After [my freshman] year, my head coach changed three different times,” Butler added.

Coincidentally, Villanova coach Kyle Neptune took over the Rams in 2021. Butler recounted that, “I didn’t have any film or anything, it was the craziest freshman year I could have ever had. And he basically was bringing his own players that he already was thinking of taking to [Villanova], and now he just brought them over to Fordham, and basically, I had to find somewhere to be able to prove myself again.”

In order to recoup his pedigree as a player, Butler headed to State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo.. The junior college level has proven to be a place where aspiring Division I players can accumulate tape and hone their skills as they work to make their way to a higher level.

The JUCO path is the same one that Turner found himself in. He enrolled at Odessa College after his postgrad year. Then after a successful season, Turner went on a visit to Drexel.

“I was actually in the emergency room on my visit. Amari caught me with a mean elbow,” Turner said. “Even then, it’s like you’re on a visit and usually it’s like the guys that are already there, you’d expect them to look down upon you, but even when I got hurt and was in the training room, guys were coming down, making sure I’m OK, and I’m like, ‘These are the kind of guys I want to be surrounded by.’”

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After his “prove it” year at State Fair, Butler wanted to be closer to home. He found Drexel to be the most fitting and committed for the 2022-2023 season, along with Turner.

While the two were looking for a positive change of scenery, the transition process still posed unique challenges.

“It’s definitely hard transferring. It’s both hard being a transfer and it’s also hard on [everyone else]. You’re losing teammates, relationships you build,” Turner said. “I was at JUCO in Texas with dudes from Canada, Detroit, California, Florida. I spent a whole year every day with these guys, and now I might never see them again. It’s definitely hard, changing coaching staff, changing play style, changing environment, but, you get used to it, and you realize, your purpose is to play basketball and be in the best position for yourself and your future.”

The stress associated with frequent turnover in college athletics is a key reason why Butler decided to remain a Dragon.

“Every team that I went to had a different level of chemistry and I always had to build new relationships with people,” Butler said. “Once I came here and I stayed for a year, built the same chemistry that I had built with other players for one year, I didn’t feel like having to restart all of that over again and get to know new coaches again. The city here was so welcoming, it was an easy choice to stay and not keep going through the one-year portal thing.”

As veterans and leaders, Butler and Turner are doing their part to make incoming transfers feel welcomed in the program.

“I’ve transferred, so I know how stressful it is transferring, and I know what teammates look like when they’re a teammate that makes it easier and invites you in as a transfer,” Turner said. “Then I also know the other side, how it feels to have teammates who don’t feel as welcoming sometimes. I think my role is just to make it as easy of a transition as possible for our new guys, and just make them feel as welcome and help them with anything they can have, on and off the court.”

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