Even though the college football transfer portal doesn’t officially open until midnight ET on Jan. 2 — moments after the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 3 Georgia is likely to conclude — players have been sharing their intentions to enter the open market for weeks via social media posts and agency announcements. Welcome to the new frontier.
Already, we’ve seen high-profile quarterbacks like Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati), DJ Lagway (Florida) and Dylan Raiola (Nebraska) toss their names into the mix, with many more entrants likely to surface over the holidays, as the portal is set to close on Jan. 16. And that means the season of back-channel recruiting, also known as tampering, has already begun. Roster-building efforts are truly 24/7, 365 in modern college football.
With that in mind, FOX Sports’ college football experts discussed some early transfer portal storylines:
1. Which quarterback surprised you the most when he entered the transfer portal?
(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
Laken Litman: Dylan Raiola, QB, Nebraska
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound quarterback was supposed to be the star that would lead Nebraska’s resurgence alongside head coach Matt Rhule. Raiola made headlines as a recruit when he flipped his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska; his father was a former Nebraska and NFL offensive lineman. He had a solid first season in 2024, starting as a freshman and helping lead the Huskers to their first bowl game since 2016. Entering his sophomore year, hopes were high in Lincoln and you never would have suspected that by the end of the year, he’d be in the transfer portal.
However, this year didn’t go as planned. He broke his leg in a loss to USC that sidelined him for the rest of the season, and then couple that with Nebraska firing its offensive line coach, who is his uncle, and his brother de-committing from the 2026 recruiting class, and the decision starts making sense.
Michael Cohen: Beau Pribula, QB, Missouri
A week before last year’s College Football Playoff began, Pribula vaulted into the national spotlight with his stunning decision to leave Penn State and enter the transfer portal. From a pure football perspective, it was easy to understand why Pribula, the backup to starter Drew Allar, wanted a fresh start somewhere else in 2025. With Allar slated to return to Penn State for his senior season, Pribula was unlikely to be afforded significant playing time with the Nittany Lions. But it was the timing of Pribula’s announcement and departure that wound up shocking the sport, inviting widespread conversations about the calendar’s layout. That Pribula felt he needed to leave a team still alive in the national championship race — and Penn State would come within a few plays of reaching the national title game — to secure a roster spot for the following year didn’t sit well with fans and analysts alike. Especially because Pribula was right.
Fast-forward to mid-October, and Pribula had guided his new team, Missouri, to a 6-1 start that included wins over Kansas, South Carolina and Auburn, with the lone defeat coming by a field goal against then-No. 8 Alabama. He’d taken the dual-threat glimpses flashed as a change-of-pace option at Penn State and expanded them into the solid repertoire of an SEC starter, evidenced by 15 total touchdowns in seven games for a team ranked No. 15 nationally ahead of a high-profile matchup with then-No. 10 Vanderbilt on Oct. 25. At that moment, the Tigers were still very much in contention for a playoff berth.
But Pribula suffered a dislocated ankle during his team’s eventual loss to the Commodores, sidelining him for the next two games. Though he returned against then-No. 8 Oklahoma on Nov. 22 — playing poorly against one of the best defenses in the country — Pribula never quite regained the form he showed early in the season. The following week against Arkansas, he only completed four of seven passes for 25 yards, though the Tigers ultimately won. And by Dec. 18, Pribula informed Missouri of his intention to skip the Gator Bowl and re-enter the portal. It would have been difficult to envision that outcome two months ago when Pribula looked like one of the shrewdest quarterback additions of last year’s portal cycle.
(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
RJ Young: Dylan Raiola, QB, Nebraska
Raiola had everything he asked for at Nebraska. As a legacy with an uncle coaching the offensive line, his name carries a prestige in Lincoln that it does not anywhere else in the country.
In earning his commitment and signing, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule asked Raiola to help him bring the Huskers back to the top of the sport. In announcing his commitment to Nebraska, Raiola published a poem expressing his love for the place he could not wait to call home.
The admiration Cornhuskers fans laid on Raiola allowed many Nebraska fans to forget he transferred programs twice in high school and flipped his commitment three times as a prep player — from Ohio State to Georgia and then Nebraska — because his decision to play for the Huskers felt like the one that would stick. In entering the portal, Raiola left Nebraska better than he found it — taking the Huskers to their first bowl game in eight years — but with the job of earning an invitation to the CFP unfinished.
Wherever he lands next will greet him as a rental, unlike Huskers fans who believed he would play a large role in their return to national title contention.
2. Who are the three best players in the transfer portal, and where are the best landing spots for them?
(Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
Michael Cohen:
3. Wide receiver Nick Marsh (Michigan State)
Marsh would have garnered far more attention for what he accomplished in 2024 were it not for the mythical season put forth by rookie Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith, whose 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns helped propel the Buckeyes to the national title. But Marsh, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 203 pounds, still set Michigan State true freshman records for receptions (41) and receiving yards (649) in a single season despite uneven quarterback play from Aidan Chiles, the Oregon State transfer, on a team that finished 5-7 overall.
He turned in another strong season in 2025 by making 59 catches for 662 yards and six touchdowns even as the Spartans benched Chiles partway through the year in favor of first-time starter Alessio Milivojevic. There’s no question Marsh will be among the most coveted wideouts in the portal this winter.
2. Quarterback Byrum Brown (USF)
Brown won’t get the same transfer portal buzz as fellow quarterbacks DJ Lagway (Florida) and Dylan Raiola (Nebraska) because he lacked the five-star recruiting tag coming out of high school, but it’s impossible to argue with his production across four seasons at USF, including two full years as the Bulls’ starter.
He threw for 3,292 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2023 while also rushing for 809 yards and 11 additional scores. Then he largely bettered those numbers by throwing for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2025 while also rushing for 1,008 yards and 14 more scores. He’s now one of just 12 players in NCAA history to throw for at least 3,000 yards and rush for at least 1,000 yards in the same season. No quarterback in the country will enter the 2026 season with more career touchdowns, 92, than Brown. He jumped in the portal after USF head coach Alex Golesh left for Auburn.
1. Edge rusher Chaz Coleman (Penn State)
Aside from quarterback, there is no position in modern football more impactful than edge rusher, which is why Coleman, a true freshman in 2025, will have countless suitors once the transfer portal officially opens. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Coleman was a four-star prospect and the No. 293 overall player in the 247Sports Composite coming out of Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, an hour southeast of Cleveland. He held scholarship offers from a handful of elite programs, including Ohio State, Ole Miss and Florida State, ultimately choosing the Nittany Lions over Kentucky and Michigan State.
Though his playing time was limited to 150 snaps this season, Coleman still generated 15 quarterback pressures, one sack, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries, tantalizing Penn State fans with his potential. Coleman was linked with a potential move to Ohio State soon after announcing his intention to enter the portal.
Laken Litman:
3. Quarterback Sam Leavitt (Arizona State)
Quarterback Sam Leavitt of Arizona State is an intriguing prospect. Previously a transfer from Michigan State, he led the Sun Devils to a Big 12 title and the College Football Playoff as a freshman last season, and he was named Big 12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year. This season, however, he suffered a foot injury that sidelined him.
2. Quarterback Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati)
Brendan Sorsby of Cincinnati is another intriguing prospect. Sorsby is appealing – to future schools and NFL scouts – because of his size and arm strength. Programs who will be interested in snagging a top quarterback from the portal would be among the likes of Texas Tech, Oregon, Indiana and Oklahoma.
(Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
1. Edge rusher Chaz Coleman (Penn State)
Then there’s edge rusher Chaz Coleman from Penn State, who impressed as a freshman and finished the year with eight tackles, three for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. It’s always easy to link a player to his former coach — James Franklin is now at Virginia Tech — but Coleman is from Ohio and, given his talent, could be scooped up by the Buckeyes, who will be losing a chunk of talent to the NFL.
RJ Young:
3. Quarterback Rocco Becht (Iowa State)
Among players who’ve announced they’re returning to college football in 2026, Becht ranks No. 2 in passing yards for a career with 9,274. He’s also produced 83 total touchdowns while leading Iowa State to a 25-7 record over the last two seasons, including one 11-win season with a trip to the Big 12 title game (2024).
Prior to Becht’s arrival, ISU had never enjoyed a 10-win season. This makes Becht the kind of QB that can flip a program’s fortunes — not unlike Kurtis Rourke at Indiana in 2024.
Though he’s dealt with injuries since winning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, he’s the kind of QB who can immediately elevate a good team into a great team.
2. Quarterback Sam Leavitt (Arizona State)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Leavitt is a winner, and he has been since he took over as the starting QB at Arizona State. He helped flip a 3-9 2023 Sun Devils team into an 11-win, Big 12 championship squad that earned its first berth in the College Football Playoff in 2024.
As I wrote last week in a column about Leavitt, he’s the only proven winner on this list, having led the Sun Devils to a championship, and industry sources expect him to be the most highly sought-after player who has announced plans to enter the transfer portal to date.
“Of all the guys in there now,” a Power 4 assistant coach told me, “he’s the guy to go get. He doesn’t make a habit of turning the ball over. He makes good decisions in the pocket, and he’s a winner.”
1. Quarterback Josh Hoover (TCU)
Last summer, Hoover reportedly turned down an offer of $2 million to enter the portal and transfer to Tennessee. He even addressed the offer publicly last June.
“I love Fort Worth. I love TCU. This is the place I want to be,” he said.
Six months later, that’s no longer true.
The money Hoover can fetch in this cycle will likely exceed $2 million after two productive years at TCU.
In 2024 and 2025, he threw for at least 3,400 yards with at least 27 touchdowns and no more than 13 interceptions in either season.
He has quietly developed into one of the nation’s premier passers, and he, like Becht and Leavitt, can serve to elevate a team to title contention. Of the three, though, the player with the most arm talent is Hoover.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
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