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NCAAF College Football Week 10 QB Conner Weigman, a transfer from Texas A&M, has led Houston to a 7-1 start. Alex Slitz / Getty Images By Sam Khan Jr. , Antonio Morales and Manny Navarro Declaring offseason winners and losers of the transfer portal in February is like picking a victor at halftime — or maybe even before the game starts. Identifying the most important portal additions for every Power 4 team and ranking the sport’s top 100 transfers when fall camp opens in August? There’s also a lot of guesswork involved. Advertisement Now that we’re actually well past the midway point of the regular season, we actually have a good idea about which offseason moves paid off and which ones did not. We lead off our latest Portal Buzz with some winners and losers from the portal, focusing on teams that have surprised and disappointed. The Cougars faced a crisis when quarterback Jake Retzlaff parted ways with the program this summer. Fortunately for them, Bear Bachmeier, a Stanford signee who transferred to BYU in May, has stepped in and played well. Four of BYU’s 14 transfer additions have become full-time starters, including tight end Carsen Ryan (Utah), right tackle Andrew Gentry (Michigan) and defensive lineman Keanu Tanuvasa (Utah). Six other transfers for the undefeated Cougars have emerged as key rotation players. Brendan Sorsby’s development at quarterback is the biggest reason the Bearcats have evolved from 5-7 in 2024 to a 7-1 team ranked 17th in the AP poll this week. But don’t discount Scott Satterfield’s work in the portal. Eleven of the 20 transfers added have started multiple games, and another four have played more than 100 snaps off the bench. Left tackle Joe Cotton (South Dakota) and right guard Taran Tyo (Ball State) headline a much-improved offensive line. Receiver Cyrus Allen (Louisiana Tech) leads the team in receptions (34), yards (381) and touchdown catches (nine). On defense, safety Christian Harrison (Tennessee) ranks fourth on the team with 42 tackles. “Portaling offensive linemen can be hit-or-miss, but I thought they hit on their guys, ” a Power 4 scouting director said. “I loved Joe Cotton. He was one of my favorite players in the portal. ” No Power 4 coach is getting more production from a transfer class than Willie Fritz. He’s gotten multiple starts out of 17 of the 26 portal additions, including 11 on offense. Conner Weigman (Texas A&M) ranks sixth in the Big 12 in passing efficiency. Tanner Koziol (Ball State) leads all tight ends nationally in catches (43) and ranks second in receiving yards (450) and touchdown catches (four). Dean Connors (Rice) ranks sixth in the Big 12 in rushing yards per game (73. 3). Amare Thomas (UAB) is seventh in the league in receiving yards per game (66. 9). Eddie Walls III (FIU) is third in the league in sacks (5. 5). Advertisement “I thought they quietly had one of the better transfer classes out there, and it shows, ” a Power 4 personnel director said. “Not a ton of splashy pickups, but they filled needs with guys who had a lot of production (at their past stops). ” Vanderbilt’s 18-man transfer class, ranked 36th by 247Sports, has netted only five full-time starters, but three of the five have played a huge role on a very good offensive line featuring center Jordan White (Liberty) and tackles Isaia Glass (Oklahoma State) and Bryce Henderson (South Dakota). The Commodores have improved from having the worst rushing offense in the SEC in terms of yards per carry (3. 83) to leading the league (6. 21) heading into November. It’s not just tough running from the backs either. Vanderbilt has improved from 124th last season in rushing yards before contact (1. 18 per carry) to third this season (3. 25), according to Tru Media. The two biggest plays in last week’s 17-10 win over Missouri were made by first-year transfers — running back MK Young’s 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and safety C. J. Heard’s forced fumble and recovery in the fourth. 80 YARD TOUCDOWN. MK YOUNG. pic. twitter. com/Zpwg Yh EFi8 — #9 Vanderbilt Football (@Vandy Football) October 25, 2025 Tony Elliott has turned things around in Charlottesville (he was 11-23 in his first three seasons) in large part because of what was a vastly underrated transfer class (ranked 26th by 247Sports). A dozen of the 30 portal additions have started at least half of the Cavaliers’ games, and another seven have played significant snaps. Chandler Morris (North Texas) has been an upgrade at quarterback; J’Mari Thomas (North Carolina Central) ranks sixth in the ACC in rushing yards per game (72. 6); and receivers Jahmal Edrine (Purdue) and Cam Ross (James Madison) rank in the top 30 in the league in receiving yards. Grad transfer Daniel Rickert (Tennessee Tech) is tied for second in the league with 5. 5 sacks, and edge rusher Mitchell Melton (Ohio State) is tied for 10th in the ACC with 6. 5 tackles for loss. Advertisement The Tigers’ portal class was ranked eighth by 247Sports, but the results show otherwise. Quarterback Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma) ranks last in the SEC in passing efficiency, and the offense has taken a step back in several areas, including rushing yards per attempt (4. 39) and explosive plays per game (6. 13, per Tru Media). The Tigers brought in two new tackles, Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech) and Mason Murphy (USC), but rank last in the SEC in sacks allowed per game (3. 75) and 96th in pressure rate allowed per dropback (33. 8 percent), per Tru Media. Of the nine transfers on defense, only linebacker Xavier Atkins, is a full-time starter. The top-ranked portal class wasn’t able to save Brian Kelly from getting fired. The new offensive playmakers have not been special. Receiver Barion Brown (Kentucky) ranks 28th in the SEC in receiving yards per game (45. 1), and tight end Bauer Sharp (Oklahoma) has only 18 catches for 190 yards and one touchdown. Even though the defense is allowing fewer points per game and playing better against both the pass and run, it wasn’t nearly good enough in recent losses to Vanderbilt and Texas A&M. “They don’t have a pass rush, ” a Power 4 personnel staffer said. “They have to generate a pass rush with blitzing. (Edge rushers) Patrick Payton and Jack Pyburn, they’ve been busts. I kind of knew they weren’t going to be good on offense. I didn’t like Joe Sloan as coordinator. I also don’t think LSU had the quality of receivers it needed and has had the last few years. ” Marcel Reed you are ABSURDpic. twitter. com/3Nnf1P4X9A — PFF College (@PFF_College) October 26, 2025 A lot has led to the Nittany Lions, ranked No. 2 in the preseason, being this year’s biggest disappointment, but the truth is that James Franklin didn’t help himself much in the portal. None of the three receivers added — Kyron Hudson (USC), Trebor Pena (Syracuse) and Devonte Ross (Troy) — rank in the top 30 in the Big Ten in receiving. What’s even more disappointing is that Penn State didn’t find help on defense after losing Abdul Carter. “You’ve got to have some dogs at receiver to win games, ” a Power 4 staffer said. “When a player steps up to a bigger conference or goes somewhere else, sometimes there’s a reason you were where you were at. That’s the case with those three guys. Bottom line, Penn State’s receivers have been underwhelming for a while. Is that coaching? ” It’s obvious now that the preseason No. 1 team needed to go into the portal to find help on its offensive line, which lost four starters in the offseason and has endured multiple injuries to starters up front this season. Texas has fallen from 35th in pressure rate allowed (28 percent) to 129th (41. 1 percent), according to Tru Media. The Horns did attempt to add some weapons in the passing game, but tight end Jack Endries (Cal), highly coveted in the offseason, has only 16 receptions for 136 yards and wide receiver Emmett Mosley (Stanford) missed a month with injury. Mosley has only eight catches for 132 yards and two scores in four games. Advertisement It’s not all bad. Texas ranks third nationally in rushing defense and 10th in scoring defense, and is getting solid contributions from defensive linemen Maraad Watson (Syracuse), Hero Kanu (Ohio State) and Cole Brevard (Purdue). But this team was supposed to be competing for the national championship — not fighting for its College Football Playoff life with a month to play in the regular season. Last year, it didn’t take too long to realize that quarterback John Mateer, at Washington State at the time, was going to be hotly pursued in the transfer portal. Well, Old Dominion’s Colton Joseph is positioning himself to be one of the top options this offseason for teams in search of a plug-and-play starter. Joseph, a third-year sophomore from California, has thrown for 2, 000 yards and 19 touchdowns while adding 548 yards and six TDs on the ground. He struggled in the opener against Indiana, throwing three interceptions and averaging only 4. 4 yards per attempt, but he played very well in the Monarchs’ Week 3 win at Virginia Tech, with 339 total yards and three total touchdowns. He is on a bit of a turnover run of late, with five interceptions in his last three games, but there are plenty of Power 4 evaluators keeping a close eye on him. The 30-day transfer portal windows that opened following September coaching changes at Arkansas, Oklahoma State, UCLA and Virginia Tech have officially closed at all four schools. With the dust settled, 17 scholarship players — a dozen from Oklahoma State and five from Virginia Tech — from those programs are officially in the portal. Oklahoma State starting guard Noah Mc Kinney has been the most coveted by other Power 4 programs thus far. Mc Kinney, a fourth-year junior who transferred to the Cowboys in 2023 after a year at UNLV, started five straight games and has appeared in six, with 378 snaps this season. Advertisement “He’s really, really good, ” an FBS general manager said of Mc Kinney. “Good size and athleticism. He’s probably the best one (currently in the portal). ”  Mc Kinney has visits lined up to North Carolina, Kentucky and TCU, according to 247Sports. Oklahoma and Virginia are also among the contenders for Mc Kinney, according to On3. A recent NCAA rule change to the head coaching exception means players at LSU, Penn State, Florida and other schools that have fired their head coaches will have to wait until a new coach arrives for their portal windows to open. That has given personnel staffs more time to assess players on those rosters. “When Arkansas, Oklahoma State, (Virginia Tech and UCLA) opened, it was like, ‘Drop everything, we need to evaluate everyone on their rosters right now, ’” the FBS GM said. “With the new rule, it’s not as much of a rush, and we can be more strategic. ” The GM conceded that, since the portal doesn’t open until Jan. 2 but the regular season ends in late November, tampering is likely to still occur. But the change to the head coaching exception will also give coaches who are hired at their new schools more of a chance to retain personnel they’d like to keep, since players must wait five days after the hire is announced to enter the portal. Regardless, personnel staffers around the country will undoubtedly keep their eyes on players they wish to poach as we approach the end of the season. With just one portal window this offseason, teams won’t have a second opportunity in the spring to fill roster needs. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle