Whether a program is coming off a College Football Playoff appearance or a losing season, the goal with every transfer portal addition is to upgrade the roster.
Some programs and coaches need those boosts a lot more than others. That means some incoming transfer classes will have more pressure on them than others. So let’s examine which portal classes will hold the most stakes next season.
Oklahoma
For most of this century, you could count on the Sooners for two things: winning at a high clip and a high-powered offense. Well, Brent Venables has had two losing seasons in three years as Oklahoma’s coach, so the winning hasn’t come often enough during his tenure. And the Sooners ranked 97th in scoring offense (24 points per game) last season.
Oklahoma has added some offensive linemen through the portal after the position group struggled mightily in 2024. It has placed bets on productive receivers from the FCS level (Keontez Lewis from Southern Illinois and JaVonnie Gibson from UAPB) and Isaiah Sategna from Arkansas.
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But everything revolves around John Mateer from Washington State. He was arguably the top quarterback in the portal this winter and followed offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle to Oklahoma. If Mateer plays well, the Sooners likely will have a bounce-back season, and things should stabilize for Venables.
If not, things could get ugly, especially after Venables botched the previous offensive coordinator hire and his handpicked quarterback, Jackson Arnold, flopped. Oklahoma hasn’t had two losing seasons in three years since it had three consecutive losing campaigns from 1996 through 1998, which led to John Blake’s firing and the arrival of Bob Stoops, who brought Venables to Norman as an assistant.
Hugh Freeze is 11-14 in his two seasons as Auburn’s coach. (John Reed / Imagn Images)
Auburn
Hugh Freeze has brought the Tigers’ recruiting classes back into the top 10 of the national rankings, which is nice. But winning games is better. Through two years, Freeze is just 11-14 as Auburn’s coach.
This year is critical for Freeze, especially at a place like Auburn, which has never been afraid to move on quickly from an underperforming coach.
The Tigers defense was good last season (18th in yards per play allowed and 27th in scoring). The directive was clear this offseason: Fix the offense.
Auburn surprisingly sat out the quarterback transfer market a year ago but was hyperaggressive at the position this winter. The Tigers landed Arnold, who needed a change of scenery after his Oklahoma stint. He’s the favorite to start, but Auburn also brought in Ashton Daniels from Stanford and former South Carolina reserve Tanner Bailey. Freeze needs better play at quarterback.
The Tigers helped out the quarterbacks by landing the best receiver in the portal, Eric Singleton from Georgia Tech, and he joined a strong group. Auburn also added two starting tackles: Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech) and Mason Murphy (USC).
Penn State
The Nittany Lions’ stakes are different. They’re aiming for a national championship next season. They spent to retain several key pieces from last season’s team and hired defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from Ohio State, giving him an annual salary of $3.1 million.
Penn State has to upgrade at wide receiver, though. This note will be circulated widely throughout the offseason: No Nittany Lions receiver caught a pass in their backbreaking Orange Bowl loss to Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals.
Penn State cleared out its receiver group after the loss. Its top two wideouts from 2024 — Harrison Wallace III (Ole Miss) and Omari Evans (Washington) — found new homes.
The Nittany Lions have added two receivers through the portal: Devonte Ross, who surpassed 1,000 yards at Troy in 2024, and Kyron Hudson, who had some nice moments at USC but was never one of the top receivers on the team in four seasons.
Are those additions enough to upgrade the position and help offset the loss of All-American tight end Tyler Warren, who was by far the best pass catcher on the team last season and had twice as many receptions as the next player on the team?
Arizona
The new-car smell wore off pretty quickly for Brent Brennan in Tucson. After winning 10 games under Jedd Fisch in 2023, the Wildcats went 4-8 in Brennan’s first season despite having a nucleus that should’ve been good enough to contend for a bowl. The Wildcats were uncompetitive in several losses. The offense ranked 114th in scoring (21.8 points per game), and the defense ranked 109th (31.8). It was an awful season all around. Brennan replaced both coordinators, which is never a good sign just one season into a tenure.
He had to replace a good amount of talent and experience that entered the portal, too, like offensive lineman Wendell Moe Jr. (Tennessee), cornerbacks Tacario Davis (Washington) and Emmanuel Karnely (Miami), and linebacker Jacob Manu (Washington).
Brennan needs to display some massive improvement next season or things will get dicey. To remake the roster, Brennan and Arizona emphasized production in this past portal cycle.
Ismail Mahdi, who has rushed for 2,322 yards at Texas State over the past two seasons, was a headline addition. Luke Wysong posted 840 receiving yards for New Mexico last season and was another good add. Both should be key pieces for new offensive coordinator Seth Doege and returning starting quarterback Noah Fifita.
The Wildcats landed several players who had impressive production at the FCS level. Linebacker Blake Gotcher led the FCS with 162 tackles for Northwestern State last season. Defensive lineman Malachi Bailey recorded nine sacks in each of his three seasons with Alcorn State. Tight end Cameron Barmore posted 913 yards receiving and 13 TD catches at Mercyhurst last fall. Receiver Javin Whatley had 2,125 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns over three seasons at Chattanooga. Linebacker Riley Wilson notched 26.5 tackles for loss during the past two years at Montana State.
It’s a long list. Arizona tried to address some holes in the secondary and along the line of scrimmage. It’s a group of 20-plus transfers, and Brennan needs as many of them as possible to contribute this fall.
Virginia Tech
Brent Pry is 16-21 in three seasons as Virginia Tech’s coach. The Hokies entered 2024 with a considerable amount of preseason buzz but went 6-7.
Neither Virginia Tech’s offense nor its defense has been elite under Pry, but the offense has been more of an issue. Quarterback Kyron Drones is back after a disappointing 2024 season, and Philip Montgomery was hired recently as the offensive coordinator.
The Hokies added two Group of 5 running backs to their offense: Braydon Bennett (Coastal Carolina) and Terion Stewart (Bowling Green). Both rushed for at least 750 yards last season. Three offensive linemen followed line coach Matt Moore from West Virginia to Virginia Tech, spearheaded by Tomas Rimac. We’ll see if receiver Donavon Greene can increase his Wake Forest production (23 catches, 380 yards in 2024) with the Hokies.
Virginia Tech tried to address some holes up front on defense by bringing in defensive linemen Arias Nash (FCS, Mercer) and Ben Bell (Texas State) and in the secondary by bringing in Tyson Flowers (Rice), Christian Ellis (New Mexico), Isaiah Brown-Murray (East Carolina) and Isaiah Cash (Sam Houston).
The Hokies lost a good chunk of players to the portal, including six players to SEC programs.
Florida State
In 2022 and 2023, Florida State was the portrait of exemplary portal usage. In 2024, it was the poster child for what happens when the portal goes wrong. The Seminoles have brought in yet another top-10 transfer class this offseason.
It’s probably too expensive for Florida State to move on from coach Mike Norvell, who signed an extension following the 2023 season after leading the Seminoles to a 13-0 regular season and an ACC championship. That was followed by a disastrous 2-10 season that exposed every flaw in Norvell’s operation, from portal evaluation and high school recruiting to coaching.
For his long-term trajectory, Norvell could use a good season to show things are headed in the right direction again.
Florida State erred in putting its eggs in quarterback DJ Uiagalelei’s basket last offseason and took another risk with Thomas Castellanos, who passed for 2,248 yards and rushed for 1,113 in 2023 for Boston College but was benched last season.
The thought is Castellanos will mesh well with new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who has worked well with mobile quarterbacks in the past. The Seminoles’ offensive line was a mess last season, and the coaches brought in four transfers who have played significant snaps: Gunnar Hansen (Vanderbilt), Adrian Medley (UCF), Luke Petitbon (Wake Forest) and Micah Pettus (Ole Miss). Florida State tried to tackle its receiver deficiencies with Squirrel White (Tennessee) and Duce Robinson (USC).
Defensive linemen James Williams (Nebraska) and Deamontae Diggs (Coastal Carolina) and linebacker Elijah Herring (Memphis) were brought in to improve a rush defense that ranked 95th nationally in yards per carry allowed (4.65) last season.
Arkansas
Sam Pittman fought off all the hot-seat chatter last year, but the program can’t regress if he hopes to do the same this year.
Arkansas lost three transfers to Ole Miss; starting offensive linemen Joshua Braun and Addison Nichols to Kentucky and SMU, respectively; starting safety TJ Metcalf (and his younger brother, Tevis) to Michigan; and promising linebacker Brad Spence to Texas.
Can this transfer class offset those losses and help Arkansas build off its 7-6 season?
Five of the 20-plus-member class play along the offensive line, which is no surprise considering Pittman’s background as a line coach.
The Razorbacks have to replace 1,000-yard wideout Andrew Armstrong and brought in several receiver transfers, like Raylen Sharpe (51 catches, 523 yards with Fresno State in 2024), O’Mega Blake (32 catches, 795 yards with Charlotte) and Kam Shanks, who led the nation in punt return yards (329) and touchdowns (two) and caught 62 passes for 656 yards and six scores for UAB. The pass-catching additions include receiver Ismael Cisse (Stanford) and tight end Rohan Jones (FCS Montana State).
The secondary will be key to how this class fares. Arkansas’ defense ranked 66th in scoring defense (25 points per game) and 111th in pass defense (246.9 yards per game). The Razorbacks brought in three experienced defensive backs — Jordan Young (Cincinnati) and safeties Caleb Wooden (Auburn) and Quentavius Scandrett (Eastern Michigan) — along with cornerback Kani Walker (Oklahoma).
It’ll be interesting to watch how running back Mike Washington Jr., who rushed for 713 yards and eight touchdowns for New Mexico State in 2024, and defensive line transfer David Oke (FCS Abilene Christian) will adjust to the SEC.
Cincinnati
The decision to hire Scott Satterfield was questionable, and nothing during his Bearcats tenure has changed those initial doubts, as Satterfield is 8-16 in two seasons.
The Bearcats brought in running back transfer Tawee Walker, who rushed for 864 yards and 10 scores for Wisconsin in 2024. Receiver Jeff Caldwell was a finalist for the Payton Award (for the most outstanding offensive player in the FCS) for Lindenwood in 2024 and is intriguing. Cincinnati needs more big-play threats after producing just 46 plays of 20-plus yards in 2024, which was 105th nationally.
Defensive back Matthew McDoom (10 pass breakups, three interceptions for Coastal Carolina in 2024) was one of the best defensive additions this offseason.
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How has Texas Tech been so strong in the transfer portal?
Texas Tech
The Red Raiders’ class ranks third nationally, per 247 Sports. That might have caught people off-guard, but Texas Tech has been building to this moment for a while. It’s a credit to Red Raiders general manager James Blanchard, coach Joey McGuire and the co-founder of the program’s collective, Cody Campbell, who spent a lot of money to put the class together. They built the roster and added several high-profile transfers like tackle Howard Sampson (North Carolina), edge rusher Romello Height (Georgia Tech) and running back Quinten Joyner (USC).
Texas Tech has entered a season with preseason buzz before. In 2023, some viewed the program as a Big 12 dark horse. It opened the season with a loss to Wyoming and finished 7-6. McGuire has yet to win more than eight games in his three seasons.
But Texas Tech has pushed in all its chips and will field a roster it believes should win the Big 12 in 2025. The Red Raiders beat Arizona State and Iowa State, the teams that played for the Big 12 title last year, and were one win away from being in the mix.
(Top photo of John Mateer: Brian Murphy / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
