What I learned from studying 2,300 transfers in the college football portal window

There’s been a healthy debate about the devaluing of high school football recruiting in the transfer portal era. You can certainly make the argument that it’s now less important than ever when you look at this past season’s Power 4 all-conference teams.

Roughly 40 percent of the all-league selections in 2024 (not including honorable mention) transferred at one point in their careers. Nearly a quarter (68 of 292) were acquired via the portal during the 2024 cycle. Twenty-five of those were first-team all-conference honorees.

Good portal work is important, especially at quarterback. Of the 11 QBs selected to the Power 4 all-conference teams, only two were not acquired via the portal: SMU’s Kevin Jennings and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers.

The 10-day spring transfer portal window will not open for another month, but if you’re wondering how things went during the winter period, we’re finally done with the math.

A total of 2,328 players at the FBS level departed, while 2,028 from all levels have been added to 131 FBS rosters (Army, Navy and Air Force did not add transfers) so far this cycle.

Where did the departures end up?

Of the 1,194 players who left Power 4 schools, 505 ended up at those schools, 367 moved down to Group of 5 programs and another 120 signed with FCS and lower-division programs. A total of 202 former Power 4 players have yet to find a new home.

It should come as little surprise that three new Power 4 head coaches were the leaders in taking transfers: West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez (31), Purdue’s Barry Odom (29) and UCF’s Scott Frost (27). That’s still not as many as Deion Sanders took at Colorado (43 in 2024 and 52 in 2023) in each of the previous two cycles.

From a talent standpoint, there’s not a lot of meat left on the bone in the portal — at least at the moment.

The top available players, according to 247Sports’ rankings, are edge rusher Smith Vilbert (Penn State), quarterback Jaden Rashada (Georgia), receiver Johntay Cook (Texas) and cornerback Ashaad Williams (North Alabama). That, though, will likely change during the 10-day spring window when programs look to fill the remaining gaps.

At the Group of 5 level, 1,134 players left their respective schools — 327 moved up to the Power 4 level, 301 ended up at Group of 5 programs and 216 signed below the FBS level.

No Group of 5 schools signed more transfers than Marshall, which led all of the FBS with 47 additions.

Power 4 programs once again had a field day picking off all-conference selections from Group of 5 schools. Of the 66 Group of 5 first-team picks who are remaining in college, 42 ended up at Power 4 programs. Of the remaining 24, only 18 stayed with their former schools.

Here is the damage:

• AAC: Seven of the 12 first-teamers with eligibility remaining returned to their original schools.
• Conference USA: Two of 19 returned.
• MAC: Three of 11 returned.
• Mountain West: Six of 12 returned.
• Sun Belt: Zero of 12 returned.

Group of 5 teams weren’t the only ones that lost all-conference players. Ten players who made Power 4 all-conference teams in 2024 transferred this winter. Five ended up in the SEC, three in the Big Ten, one in the Big 12 (Texas Tech) and one at Notre Dame.

As noted in the charts, 492 (21 percent) still have not found a new home. That seems like a high number, but it’s consistent with what we’ve seen in recent years. Keep in mind that some of these transfers are walk-ons or reserves who have decided to give up football.

Plus/minus winners

If you go by which programs signed the most top-100 players (per 247Sports), Miami (eight), LSU (seven), Texas Tech (six), Oregon (five), Ole Miss (four), North Carolina (four) and Texas A&M (four) were the biggest winners. On the flip side, Purdue (six), Florida State (four), USC (four), Kentucky (four) and Georgia (four) lost the most top-100 players.

If gaining starting experience is more your thing, these four programs led the way in net career starts added: Arizona (230), Missouri (215), Oregon (213) and Indiana (201).

Only 11 Power 4 teams lost more combined starts through the portal than they gained: Purdue (92), Utah (63) and USC (32), Syracuse (28), Maryland (27), Wisconsin (22), Baylor (27), Texas A&M (four), Tennessee (four), Alabama (three) and Penn State (one).

Where you get your starting experience from, though, definitely counts for something, which is why LSU ranked No. 1 in the team transfer portal standings. Brian Kelly’s Tigers added 10 players, who started at least six games last season, from Power 4 programs. Auburn (eight), Florida State (seven), Washington (six) and Indiana (six) were next on the list.

Arizona, Louisville and West Virginia led all Power 4 programs by signing 16 transfers who started at least six games for their former programs in 2024, but the majority for each school came from the Group of 5 ranks or below.

Coaching pipelines

No coach brought more players with him to his new job than Charles Huff, who made the intra-conference move from Marshall (the 2024 Sun Belt champs) to Southern Miss. Twenty players followed Huff, including quarterback Braylon Braxton — the Sun Belt’s Newcomer of the Year — and four other starters.

Washington State’s Jimmy Roberts was next, with 15 former South Dakota Jackrabbits making the move from Brookings to Pullman.

Meanwhile, Jake Dieckert left Washington State and took eight former Cougars with him to Wake Forest.

North Texas cashed in on the hiring of former Sam Houston State defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity by landing eight ex-Bearkats, including four full-time starters.

Like Huff, Bronco Mendenhall switched jobs in the same league — leaving New Mexico for Utah State — and brought seven players with him to Logan. Mendenhall’s replacement, Jason Eck, brought six players from his former stop, Idaho (in the FCS ranks).

Odom tapped into his former stops at UNLV (head coach) and Arkansas (defensive coordinator) to bolster Purdue’s roster. He signed seven former Rebels (four full-time starters) and four former Razorbacks (none who started a game).

Rodriguez led Jacksonville State to the Conference USA championship in December and then brought five former Gamecocks with him to his new/old job at West Virginia.

Stephen Belichick, who left Washington to become the defensive coordinator for his dad at North Carolina, brought four former Huskies to Chapel Hill.

(Photo of Hugh Freeze: Dale Zanine / USA Today via Imagn Images)

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