A prominent University of Northern Colorado football player is returning to the Bears’ program without a scholarship this fall after testing the NCAA transfer portal market.
Carver Cheeks, a junior defensive back-turned wide receiver, was a bright spot for a challenged UNC offense in 2024 after the position change in late September. Cheeks ended the season with 20 catches for 355 yards, both of which were second among receivers. Cheeks tied for team lead with three receiving touchdowns.
With two years of eligibility remaining to play college football, Cheeks opted to enter the NCAA transfer portal several weeks ago to see if he might find an opportunity at a higher level Division I Football Bowl Subdivision program. He said this was the time to investigate other options in the sport, according to UNC head coach Ed Lamb.
“That was his feeling, that he was going to be the most marketable,” Lamb said.
Cheeks declined to comment about his return to UNC.
University of Northern Colorado football wide receiver Carver Cheeks runs with the ball during a 2024 game at Nottingham Field in Greeley. Cheeks, now a junior from Colorado Springs, switched to wide receiver from defensive back last year and was an impact player for the Bears. He went into the NCAA transfer portal this spring, before deciding to return to UNC. (Woody Myers/University of Northern Colorado).Cheeks came into the UNC program two years ago as a full scholarship player on defense. He was in the first class of players to sign with the Bears in February 2023, two months after Lamb was hired. Cheeks’ older brother, Cash, was a tight end with the Bears in 2023 and 2024. Cash Cheeks transferred from UNC in December and is on the roster with University of Texas at El Paso.
When Carver Cheeks didn’t find what he sought in the transfer portal, he expressed an interest to return to UNC. Lamb said it’s common for him to hear from players when guys go into the portal, and he heard about Cheeks’ desire to go back to the Bears.
According to social media posts, Cheeks received offers from Abilene Christian University, Colorado State Pueblo, Bethune-Cookman University, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Houston Christian University.
Abilene Christian, Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee Chattanooga and Houston Christian all play at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level, which is the same as UNC. CSU Pueblo is a Division II program in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Lamb approved Cheeks’ return on the condition that the player come back as a walk-on for this fall — without a scholarship.
“I don’t want to build a culture where the players see that, I as the head coach, if a good player goes into the portal, we’ll take them right back if they don’t find anything,” Lamb said. “And if a player that’s not as good goes into the portal, then we’ll give their scholarship to somebody else. So you have to have a consistent policy.”
With the start of the fall semester, Cheeks will have to pay to attend UNC. He has a chance like every other walk-on player to earn a scholarship in the future. Lamb said there is no established time or path for Cheeks to re-earn the scholarship.There are no guarantees. Scholarship players go into the portal at their own risk, Lamb said.
By NCAA rules, a scholarship may only be reduced or retracted once per year and a student-athlete must be notified by July 1. A scholarship is in place through the academic year as long as the athletes participate in their athletic training, Lamb said.
All football scholarships are canceled when athletes enter the transfer portal, allowing funds to be allocated elsewhere. The coach said the only way UNC may stop a football scholarship in January ahead of the spring semester is if a player goes into the portal in December.
Under current NCAA rules, FCS programs have 63 equivalency-based scholarships — meaning full scholarships equalling the cost of attendance — to be spread among 85 players, according to Big Sky Conference deputy commissioner Dan Satter.
Potential changes to sports roster sizes will likely be made through a pending $2.8 billion federal antitrust lawsuit known as House v. NCAA. The lawsuit originated in 2020 with Arizona State swimmer Grant House and former University of Texas, University of Oregon and Texas Christian women’s basketball player Sedona Prince.
University of Northern Colorado football wide receiver Carver Cheeks runs with the ball during a 2024 game at Montana State in Bozeman, Montana. Cheeks, a junior from Colorado Springs, switched to wide receiver from defensive back last year and was an impact player for the Bears. He went into the NCAA transfer portal this spring, before deciding to return to UNC. (Jesus Ayala/University of Northern Colorado Athletic Department).In the simplest terms, the lawsuit is about paying all Division I college athletes. The defendants in the suit are athletes from five major conferences: the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten, the Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Athletic Conference, according to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
All schools in these conferences are bound by all of the terms of the settlement. Schools in other Division I conferences are only bound by the settlement if they opt into the terms.
A hearing to finalize the settlement began last month. The lawsuit is not settled because of conversations over roster sizes and scholarship limits with a federal judge in California.
National media reports say a final settlement is expected this week. Changes could then go into effect July 1.
A component of the settlement would do away with athletic scholarship limits and introduce roster limits for each sport. An initial proposal in the settlement stipulated college football teams in FBS and FCS would be limited to 105 players.
The Big Sky Conference, of which UNC is a member, voted to retain a scholarship limit of 63 in football for the 2025-26 academic year. Satter said football is the only sport for which the Big Sky members wanted to set a scholarship or roster limit smaller than the proposed numbers under the House v. NCAA lawsuit.
When Cheeks made the switch to wide receiver last fall, his scholarship status could have been up for evaluation for 2025. He proved himself worthy of keeping the scholarship, and his status remained unchanged. Until Cheeks opted to enter the portal.
Then, because of team policy, Cheeks’ scholarship was not renewed.
Lamb discussed Cheeks’ status at great length recently during a regular podcast with 1310 KFKA radio host Brady Hull. During the mid-May conversation, Lamb said other football players at UNC have entered the portal and asked to return to UNC, but none were willing to forgo scholarship money to come back as a walk-on.
Lamb said he and Cheeks had “important conversations” about Cheeks’ decisions. Lamb said he thinks Cheeks feels he made a huge mistake in entering the portal in the first place.
Lamb said he would’ve wanted to talk with Cheeks before Cheeks filed to leave. This would’ve allowed the men to discuss Cheeks’ options to play in another program.
Lamb is not against the transfer portal. The coach said he wants his players to be “picky” in how they use the portal, including entering with information about their prospects.
In the Football 52 podcast, Lamb and Hull discussed the differences between college basketball and college football with the portal. Lamb said there is information available for college basketball players who decide to go into the portal, in part, because there are fewer athletes on college basketball teams.
Lamb called the transfer portal “a desert” for college football players, who don’t have the benefit of completely relying on accurate information to grade their skills. Analytical data or statistics don’t tell the whole story for all positions because other factors enter into evaluations — including for wide receivers, Lamb said.
University of Northern Colorado junior Langston Reynolds flies through the air to dunk the ball while playing Idaho State at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley Saturday Jan. 4, 2025.The Bears won in overtime 93-92.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Lamb referred to recent UNC men’s basketball players Dalton Knecht, Saint Thomas and Langston Reynolds, who all left the Bears program for bigger schools in power conferences. Knecht, Thomas and Reynolds were among the best players in the Big Sky Conference when they transferred.
Knecht went to Tennessee, Thomas to USC and Reynolds to Minnesota.
Another factor to remember is Knecht, Thomas and Reynolds were among the best players in the Big Sky Conference when they left UNC.
“That’s the way to go into the portal for every athlete,” Lamb said. “So we’re using that as an example. I think that now Carver understands that’s the criteria to get into the portal to get a happy ending.”
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