Key players that will opt-out of 2022-23 bowl games

The college football season comes to a close, and although there are 42 bowl games to come, there are plenty of players that won’t exhaust the last of their eligibility for the 2022 season and will not play in the last game of the year.

The reasons usually fall into two categories: Players that intend to leave early for the NFL Draft, and those that are looking to head to another school for 2023 via the transfer portal. College football basically has unfettered free agency for a player’s first transfer, so the number of unhappy players that will be moving along has never been higher.

With two exceptions all bowl games are just exhibitions with no championship implications, and sustaining an injury would make a player potentially less attractive to professional scouts or a future academic institution. And that’s why this list will continue to grow longer throughout the month of December.

Here is the most recent list of players that have opted out of playing during the 2022-23 college football bowl season:

Updated as of December 12, 5:35 p.m.