Navigating the latest wave of players entering the transfer portal

Jason Jones

•
Navigating the latest wave of players entering the transfer portal image

College football has been an evolving landscape over the last decade. The two largest additions to the landscape are NIL (name, image and likeness-earnings) and the transfer portal. As the game evolves, as does the calendar of important dates.

The transfer portal window officially opens on January 2nd and will remain open for fourteen days, concluding on January 16th. The new wrinkle this year is the portal will only open once. A change from previous years. Adding urgency and a premium on the players programs choose to bring in from the portal.

Many programs have embraced the portal while some have continued to resist it. Or to put names to it, some programs are Deion Sanders at Colorado, some are Dabo Swinney at Clemson, and the rest seem to be somewhere in the middle.

The latest wave of players entering the transfer portal just in the last 48 hours exceeds fifty players. While most of them are listed here, it is a daunting to list to digest. Below, the list of the most noteworthy players currently in the portal has been organized. Alphabetized by both player name and conference, in positional order. All players included were first reported and confirmed by either On3 or 247Sports.

The ‘belles of the ball’ are currently two five-star quarterbacks believed to be candidates to stay, until they weren’t. DJ Lagway of Florida chose to leave following the firing of Billy Napier.

Dylan Raiola, a Nebraska legacy and Nebraska flip, opting to leave his father’s alma mater despite Nebraska extending Matt Rhule.

Despite a short list of five-stars, the largest portion of this list is the four-stars. All the Power 4 conferences are included in the four-star group as well as one player from the American conference.

Four-star transfers

Quarterbacks: Aiden Chiles – Michigan State, Jadyn Davis – Michigan, Colin Hurley – LSU, Jake Merklinger – Tennessee

Running Backs: Kam Davis – Florida State, KD Daniels – Florida

Wide Receivers: NY Carr – Miami, Micah Mays – Wake Forest, Zion Fowler-El – Pitt, Jayce Brown – Kansas State, Tank Hawkins – Florida, Joshua Manning – Missouri, Aidan Mizell – Florida

Tight Ends: Walker Lyons – USC

Offensive Line: Carius Curne - LSU

Defensive Line: Jayden Williams – North Texas, Neeo Avery – Maryland, Jeheim Oatis – Colorado, Javion Hilson – Missouri

Linebackers: Melvin Jordan IV – Georgia Tech, Liona Lefau – Texas

Cornerbacks: Christian Peterson – UCF, Conrad Hussey – Oregon State

The group of three-stars is the middle ground. Significantly more depth that the five-star group. Like the group of four-star players, the three-stars provide some intriguing options that should find new destinations. This group includes players from all of the Power 4 conferences, but this group includes names from Conference USA, the Mountain West, the resurging Pac-12 and one Independent.

Three-star transfers

Quarterbacks: Aaron Philo – Georgia Tech, Khristian Martin – Maryland, Zane Flores – Oklahoma State, Dexter Williams – Kennesaw State, Stone Saunders - Kentucky

Wide Receivers: Cameron Abshire – Oklahoma State, Tony Freeman – Washington State, Preston Bowman - Kentucky

Tight Ends: Josh Ford – Oklahoma State

Offensive Line: Kai Wheeler – New Mexico, Marcus Mascoll – Florida, Misael Sandoval - Vanderbilt

Defensive Line: Justin Terrell – NC State

Linebackers: Omar Graham – Florida State

Safeties: TJ Branch – Colorado

Cornerbacks: Leroy Bryant – Washington, Ormaine Arnold – Cincinnati, Chance Tucker – Notre Dame

Very little context is expected prior to the open transfer portal window due to NCAA regulations. Once the portal window opens on January 2nd, expect to see some of these players discussed early. The portal will open for two weeks from Friday and remain open for exactly two weeks.

More college football news: 

News Correspondent