Bill ConnellyApr 7, 2026, 08:15 AM ETCloseBill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.Follow on XMultiple Authors
LSU’s Kiffin details status of QB Leavitt, team evaluations (2:54)Lane Kiffin explains how his new Tigers’ roster looks as spring practice continues, highlighting how Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt is performing. (2:54)
Indiana eventually won the whole thing thanks to a semi-proven quarterback who had taken more than 40 sacks the year before (Fernando Mendoza), quite a few line transfers and the remnants of a huge batch of players who followed Curt Cignetti from James Madison.
Miami reached the final thanks to a 23-year-old quarterback (Carson Beck), key transfers at receiver and throughout the secondary and heavy continuity on the lines.
Ole Miss was led by a former Division II quarterback (Trinidad Chambliss) and a roster constructed by one of the most portal-dependent coaches in the business (Lane Kiffin), but while Oregon certainly had some important transfers at quarterback (Dante Moore), on the offensive line and in the secondary, the Ducks had only 11 transfers. They got to the semis thanks in large part to old-fashioned, blue-chip recruiting. And they got shellacked by an Indiana team with almost no former blue-chippers.
Mileage has varied significantly among those with huge transfer classes and tiny transfer classes, and no slam dunk, surefire approach has emerged. I love it.
Favorite transfers: QB Josh Hoover, TCU (3,472 passing yards, 29 TDs); RB Turbo Richard, Boston College (962 yards from scrimmage, 11 total TDs); CB Carson Williams, Montana State (46 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, nine passes broken up)
The bar is ridiculously high, of course, and there’s nothing saying Cignetti and his staff won’t whiff on an evaluation or two at some point. But this all makes so much damn sense.
Favorite transfers: LB Gideon Lampron, Bowling Green (123 tackles, 18.5 TFLs, 31 run stops); WR Danny Scudero, San José State (1,297 receiving yards, 10 TDs); WR Kam Perry, Miami-Ohio (976 receiving yards, 2.8 per route)
If former blue-chip quarterback Julian Lewis is ready for the spotlight, he’ll have a remarkably well-tested roster around him.
Favorite transfers (Texas Tech): QB Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati (2,800 passing yards, 27 TDs); OLB Adam Trick, Miami-Ohio (69 tackles, 14.5 TFLs, 8.5 sacks); WR Jalen Jones, Alabama State (1,392 receiving yards, 19.3 per catch)
Tech’s need for a big-time quarterback was laid bare in the Red Raiders’ CFP loss to Oregon, and grabbing maybe the most highly sought QB in the portal was a pretty good way of addressing that. Trick is almost a surefire star, too, as is edge rusher Trey White (San Diego State). Receivers Kenny Johnson (Pitt), Donte Lee Jr. (Liberty), Malcolm Simmons (Auburn) and Jones all offer big-play potential, too.
Favorite transfers (LSU): LT Jordan Seaton, Colorado (zero sacks allowed); WR Jayce Brown, Kansas State (712 receiving yards, 3.0 yards per route); S Ty Benefield, Boise State (100 tackles, nine TFLs, 12 run stops)
When UCLA hired James Madison’s Bob Chesney, it also signed up for the inevitable JMU Influx. Knight, West and Barksdale were some of the Dukes’ most high-upside players — and JMU was much better than UCLA last season — and Chesney also brought with him a pair of all-conference offensive linemen (guards Riley Robell and Carter Sweazie) and a couple of other disruptive defenders (DE Aiden Gobaira, LB Drew Spinogatti).
In addition to a few smaller-school stars — OL Derek Osman (Harvard), DE Dallin Havea (Utah Tech), CB Jhase McMillan (Montana State) — Chesney complemented that with a number of less-tested recent blue-chippers. If the likes of WR Aidan Mizell (Florida), DT Maxwell Roy (Ohio State), Anthony Sacca (Notre Dame) and safety Malik Hartford (Ohio State) start to develop too, then Chesney might have pulled off a double upgrade.
Favorite transfers: DE Wendell Gregory, Oklahoma State (43 tackles, 15.5 TFLs, 19 run stops); LB Mekhi Mason, Louisiana Tech (74 tackles, 15 TFLs, 24 run stops); DE Elijah Hill, Kennesaw State (36 tackles, 14 TFLs, nine sacks)
Granted, losing a couple of pass rushers to the No. 2 team on this list isn’t optimal, but Collin Klein’s first transfer class in Manhattan features lots of evaluations that I think will pay off, especially on defense.
Favorite transfers: RB Cam Cook, Jacksonville State (1,945 yards from scrimmage, 16 total TDs); OLB Harper Holloman, Western Kentucky (63 tackles, 10 TFLs, 12 run stops); QB Michael Hawkins Jr., Oklahoma (167 passing yards, three TDs)
After signing 53 transfers in 2025 and not really building traction, Rich Rodriguez is looking at basically a second first year; his Mountaineers return players responsible for only 33 starts last season — among power-conference teams, only Iowa State returns fewer — and depth might therefore remain a massive issue. But upside and experience aren’t.
Favorite transfers: DE Kenyon Garner, Livingstone (55 tackles, 28 TFLs, 15 sacks); DE Jay Crable, Ohio (39 tackles, 10 TFLs, six sacks); LB Nate Fischer, San Diego (97 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, 12 passes defended).
What do you do if you need to massively upgrade your defensive disruption levels but don’t have the budget to grab a ton of proven guys from the mid-major or high-FCS ranks? You dig a little bit deeper. In Garner, Zach Kittley added maybe the most explosive defender in Division II — 28 TFLs! 15 sacks! — plus other fun players in Fischer and CB Ahlston Ware (Ferris State). Throw in a proven Group of 6 defender in Crable, and you have a solid upgrade on your hands.
Kittley also added another Division II star in Fairmont State’s Leonard Farrow, who had 1,617 yards from scrimmage. That’s exciting, too.
That’s six Big 12 teams in the top 11. That’s evidently a conference with a nice blend of money and room for creativity.
Favorite transfers: QB Caden Pinnick, UC Davis (3,206 passing yards, 32 TDs, 437 rushing yards); S Jshawn Frausto-Ramos, Arizona (18 tackles, two sacks, one INT at Stanford in 2024); DE Matyus McLain, Idaho (42 tackles, 13.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks)
Favorite transfers: LT Lance Heard, Tennessee (one sack allowed, third-team All-SEC); RG Tegra Tshabola, Ohio State (one sack allowed, third-team All-Big Ten); OLB Antonio O’Berry, Gardner-Webb (52 tackles, 10.5 TFLs, seven PBUs)
Favorite transfers: WR Chase Hendricks, Ohio (1,037 receiving yards, 2.7 per route, seven TDs); WR Ian Strong, Rutgers (762 receiving yards, 2.2 per route, five TDs); OLB Solomon Williams, Texas A&M (seven tackles, 3.5 TFLs, five run stops in 34 snaps)
Mission No. 1 for Tosh Lupoi as Cal’s new head coach was assuring the return of star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Mission No. 2: Improving his supporting cast. Lupoi did a solid job.
Steve Sarkisian made high-profile offensive additions in Brown, Coleman and RB Hollywood Smothers (NC State) to make sure Arch Manning’s supporting cast has the requisite upside this time around. He grabbed four offensive linemen to address depth there, too, and Biles was one of the portal’s better defenders.
Favorite transfers: QB Beau Pribula, Missouri (1,941 passing yards, 11 TDs, 416 non-sack rushing yards); DT Zion Wilson, East Carolina (47 tackles, 9.5 TFLs, seven sacks); RB Solomon Beebe, UAB (622 yards from scrimmage, 26.1-yard kick return average)
Favorite transfers: QB Ethan Grunkemeyer, Penn State (1,339 passing yards, eight TDs, 75.0 Total QBR); WR Que’Sean Brown, Duke (846 receiving yards, 2.1 per route, five TDs); CB Jaquez White, Troy (66 tackles, 15 passes defended, six run stops)
James Franklin clearly had a plan. He wanted to upgrade Tech’s raw talent level and added a number of young former blue-chippers — many from Penn State, his former employer. But he also targeted pass-catching upgrades (I like both Brown and former Penn State tight end Luke Reynolds) and immediate help at cornerback, where newcomers Cam Chadwick (UConn) and White combined for seven picks and 16 breakups.
Favorite transfers: RB Trequan Jones, Old Dominion (792 rushing yards, 7.5 per carry); C Malachi Preciado, South Alabama (zero sacks allowed, zero penalties); S Rylan Leathers, Idaho State (101 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, four PBUs)
Favorite transfers: RB Lendon Phillips Jr., South Dakota (2,116 yards from scrimmage, 20 total TDs); DE Kahmari Brown, Elon (66 tackles, 16 TFLs, 12 sacks); S Anthony Hawkins, Villanova (59 tackles, two INTs, 11 PBUs)
Iowa got hit hard by attrition, returning only six players who started a majority of last season’s games. But after finding relative success with quarterback Mark Gronowski (South Dakota State) last season, Kirk Ferentz evidently decided he had found a potential inefficiency regarding FCS transfers and leaned into it. I’m not sure if it will work, but I love the idea.
In addition to the three players mentioned above, Ferentz also brought in receivers Tony Diaz (Texas-Rio Grande Valley) and Evan James (Furman); DTs Brice Stevenson (Holy Cross) and Emmanuel Olagbaju (North Dakota); and safety Xavier Styles (Robert Morris), and perhaps the most intriguing part is, although all were productive in the FCS, none is a senior. There’s still some developmental potential here.
• Cincinnati: Scott Satterfield was laser-focused on bringing in solid mid-major production and landed loads of it, including QB JC French IV (Georgia Southern), RB Zylan Perry (Louisiana), LB Filip Maciorowski (Northern Illinois), safety Jasper Beeler (Northern Illinois) and many others.
• Coastal Carolina: Ryan Beard had to undertake a massive roster reconstruction and did a fun job of bringing in both some of his most high-upside Missouri State players (QB Deuce Bailey, WR Tristian Gardner, DE Mitchell Toney, DT Ahmad Poole) and quite a few high-upside smaller-schoolers.
• Florida State: Linebacker Chris Jones (Southern Miss) is a tackling machine, corner Nehemiah Chandler (South Alabama) was one of the FBS’ best freshmen, QB Ashton Daniels (Auburn) is an upgrade, and Mike Norvell landed four O-linemen who started all of 2025.