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132 quarterbacks have already entered the transfer portal during the first window. This is usually the window of most activity. Yes, this is the first year of official transfer windows, but over 80% of all transfers left in December and January since the portal free-for-all opened in 2020.
There are a dozen or so quarterbacks that haven't decided on a landing spot yet, with James Madison's Jordan McCloud being the most notable. Vanderbilt's Ken Seals is rumored to be headed to TCU and Washington's Dylan Morris is rumored to be McCloud's replacement at James Madison, but they are not "hard commits" yet. I will be leaving those still in the portal off of the list. This won't affect quarterbacks much. Most of the big names have already committed.
Perhaps the biggest news is that Noah Fifita is staying at Arizona even though his coach left for Washington to take over for Kalen DeBoer, who took Nick Saban's vacated Alabama job. This window officially closed on January 19, but it took a few days for all of the paperwork to clear and I waited a few days for the dust to settle.
QB Transfer Impacts Last Season
I whiffed on a couple of these last year. Layne Hatcher never started at Ball State and Phil Jurkovec was done at Pitt before the end of September. I likely had Haynes King too low as he led Georgia Tech to a bowl game. I had Brennan Armstrong too high as both Shedeur Sanders and Donovan Smith had much better seasons than he did.
Hudson Card had a poor season at Purdue. The top three did pretty well for their new teams, with D.J. Uiagalelei and Sam Hartman being among the best transfer quarterbacks last season. Georgia Southern's Davis Brin (from Tulsa) led all transfer quarterbacks with 3,781 passing yards last season. It just goes to show you that it's not always the most talented guys that have big years. Where they land is even more important.
Keep that in mind while perusing these rankings. High school five-star QB Julian Sayin has transferred from Alabama to Ohio State with the news of Nick Saban's retirement. Rivals has him as the fifth-best transfer in the portal and the best overall quarterback. As of now, he doesn't even make my top-10 because he's not guaranteed anything for the Buckeyes. If he's named the starter by the time I update these rankings in August, that might change. These are based on what I see now.
10. DeQuan Finn, Baylor (from Toledo)
The Blake Shapen experiment never really worked for Baylor. Shapen is also in the portal, heading to Mississippi State. On the surface, this is a good fit for Finn. He threw for a career-best 2,657 yards at Toledo last year with 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He joins an offense with athletes all over the field. He had good receivers at Toledo. He has a star on the rise at Baylor in Monaray Baldwin. Nevada's Jamaal Bell provides another good target for Finn. I do have questions about Baylor's offensive line, but he played behind a worse line at Toledo. Finn doesn't really have competition for this job and should excel in the role.
9. Will Howard, Ohio State (from Kansas State)
I'll be honest: this one is kind of peculiar to me. Howard is a veteran quarterback, which seems to be what Ryan Day and the Buckeyes want after last year's shortcomings with young quarterbacks. Howard has worked through most of his shortcomings to become a strong player, but he still doesn't have the pedigree that a team like the Buckeyes covets.
There's a chance that Howard loses this job, especially if Julian Sayin is half as good as advertised. That's another reason I'm baffled by this one. Howard left Kansas State because he was afraid that Avery Johnson would beat him out, or at the very least, have fans calling for the backup at the first sign of struggles from Howard. It could be even worse in Columbus.
8. KJ Jefferson, Central Florida (from Arkansas)
This is a perfect landing spot for Jefferson. The UCF offense is tailor-made for mobile quarterbacks. I feel like Arkansas didn't always play to the strengths of Jefferson and the receivers certainly did him no favors. Jefferson did throw for 7,923 yards and 67 touchdowns to only 18 interceptions in five years at Arkansas (three as the starter). He also ran for 1,876 yards and 21 touchdowns.
We saw McKenzie Milton, Dillon Gabriel, and John Rhys Plumlee excel in this offense. Jefferson might be the best athlete of them all. Kobe Hudson is better than any receiver Jefferson had at Arkansas and running backs RJ Harvey and Cincinnati transfer Miles Montgomery will help shoulder some of the rushing load. The Big 12 is wide open next year, and Jefferson is the kind of player that can help propel them to a conference title.
7. D.J. Uiagalelei, Florida State (from Oregon State)
DJU makes this list for the second straight year. He wouldn't have if the Pac-12 didn't commit conference suicide. I think D.J. would have stuck around, but Oregon State and Washington State not having a home or a clear path to the expanded playoff led to a mass exodus of players and coaches. I feel horrible for those two teams and locales. Their fans deserve better.
As for Uiagalelei, his numbers weren't much different from his final year at Clemson, but his demeanor was. The fans/staff at Clemson took the will from D.J. He has it back and is heading into a really good situation. We saw what Mike Norvell did with Jordan Travis. The same could happen for D.J. Florida State has some talent left on offense. Uiagalelei will be behind arguably the best offensive line he's ever had. I don't know if this is going to be a rousing success, but I'm intrigued.
6. Will Rogers, Washington (from Mississippi State)
Will Rogers didn't play often or well for Mississippi State last year, but what do you expect? He was really close with Mike Leach. A loss like that takes a while to get over. Maybe a change of scenery will do him good. Rogers is certainly walking into a good situation. Jedd Fisch couldn't get Noah Fifita to follow him, but he got a football-smart veteran who makes good decisions and loves to throw. What could possibly go wrong?
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5. Kyle McCord, Syracuse (from Ohio State)
Kyle McCord did not have a bad year last year in his first season as a starter. 3,170 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions is actually a really good season, especially when you consider he was in a timeshare for most of the first three games of the season. There is a lot of upheaval at Syracuse, but I'm interested in what Fran Brown can do there. Going to a less-rabid fan base will help McCord out. I can see a downtick in numbers since he doesn't have Marvin Harrison Jr. to throw to anymore, but McCord should find success in the Loud House.
4. Riley Leonard, Notre Dame (from Duke)
Oh, what could have been at Duke last year. Riley Leonard's injury derailed the season and Mike Elko bolted for the Texas A&M job, leaving Leonard evaluating his choices. I'm a big fan of Marcus Freeman, but this doesn't feel like a great fit for the Irish. Leonard showed growth as a passer last year, but he's not Sam Hartman. If Irish fans are expecting him to be, the grind from the fans could get to him.
Leonard does bring a new element to the Notre Dame offense, though. I'm curious to see what this looks like, but Leonard is going to face a tougher schedule and more scrutiny than he did playing at what is still a basketball school.
3. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (from Oklahoma)
The situation will never get any better for Gabriel. I don't feel like he was ever a great fit at Oklahoma, but he was fun to watch and I wish him the best. We've seen some limitations from Gabriel, but there are a lot of parallels between him and Bo Nix. Both are sneaky fast and very efficient passing the ball. Dan Lanning transformed Nix from a guy who would be lucky to remain the starter into a first-round pick in a loaded NFL draft.
I expect a similar transformation of Gabriel. The talent is there. Gabriel will have a big season at Oregon. The addition of Evan Stewart makes up for the loss of Troy Franklin and then some.
2. Malachi Nelson, Boise State (from USC)
I feel weird about putting Nelson this high on the list because he lacks experience. On a different note, what in the hell is going on at USC that causes a five-star prospect to say "Eh...I'm leaving 80-degree sunny days for eternity and going to Boise." Nelson likely wasn't going to start over Miller Moss after Moss's bowl heroics, but still... This is a good landing spot for Nelson. The job is his and Boise has been one of the better Mountain West teams for 20 years now.
I have a feeling that we could see more of this with the playoff expansion. The Group of Five is guaranteed one of the 12 slots and that's likely the path of least resistance for transfers with the super-mega-big conferences. If you go to a school like Boise, one loss will doom you, but you also don't have to play a schedule that includes five or more ranked teams like the SEC and Big Ten (18) will have.
1. Cameron Ward, Miami (FL) (from Washington State)
Much like the last two years, this was an easy pick at the top. The Incarnate Word to Washington State transition went great for Ward. So will this one. He had good receivers at Washington State. He'll have borderline great ones at Miami. The Miami staff did well with Tyler Van Dyke (until they didn't). Ward doesn't really need any work. He's already a polished product who threw for 6,966 yards in two seasons at Washington State with 48 touchdowns to 16 interceptions.
Honorable Mention: Aidan Chiles, Michigan State (from Oregon State); Maalik Murphy, Duke (from Texas); Tyler Van Dyke, Wisconsin (from Miami); Jayden De Laura, Texas State (from Arizona); Tyler Shough, Louisville (from Texas Tech); Kurtis Rourke, Indiana (from Ohio); Chubba Purdy, Nevada (from Nebraska); TJ Finley, Western Kentucky (from Texas State)
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