Texas has the financial resources to sign any college football player it wants. The Longhorns are making a statement by spending millions of dollars in NIL money to help build the roster around Arch Manning.

It also proves they are not broke.

Two of the biggest moves in the transfer portal directly contradict a recent narrative surrounding the college football program in Austin. There is plenty of cash!

Texas will not overpay for unproven contributors.

The University of Texas have seen 23 outgoing players enter the transfer portal this cycle. That is a little bit less than 25% of the 105-player roster.

NIL money is the driving force behind a large number of these departures.

Many Longhorns players are going to the financial administrators with requests for a pay raise, or threatening to enter the transfer portal based on their projected roles rather than proven on-field performance. Players and agents view the program as flush with cash so they want their piece of the pie. That initially created a lot of tension because Steve Sarkisian and his staff are unwilling to overpay for backups and/or unproven contributors. Their demands are unrealistic.

Some fans of college football, especially those who root for rival programs, learned of this targeted approach by Texas and used it as a reason to point and laugh. They thought the Longhorns didn’t have enough money to pay their players after flaunting their money for recruits with a fleet of Lamborghinis.

That is far from the truth, as we learned on Sunday.

Alabama didn’t offer enough NIL money for Cam Coleman or Hollywood Smothers.

This whole narrative about Texas being broke largely stemmed from Christian Clark. The rising sophomore running back initially announced his decision to enter the transfer portal after getting 55 carries for the Longhorns in 2025. He may or may not return to Austin.

Either way, Texas will now split the bulk of carries between Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers. Clark is an afterthought. If he decides to leave, good riddance.

Smothers was the top-ranked running back in the transfer portal. The former four-star recruit ran for 939 yards and six touchdowns on 160 carries at N.C. State last season.

Smothers initially committed to Alabama last week. He later flipped to Texas on Sunday.

D’Anton Lynn and Ikaika Malloe added another familiar face to the Penn State defense by signing veteran defensive tackle Siale Taupaki on Thursday. It’s the second UCLA Bruin defender Penn State has added on their defensive line, along with Keanu Williams.

Taupaki has seen the college football game evolve, as he pre-dates the NIL era. Taupaki got to UCLA in 2019, starting as a defensive lineman, converting to the offensive line, and now has returned to the defensive side of the ball.

Lynn and Malloe have both coached the UCLA defense in recent years, now the two coaches are joining forces again at Penn State under head coach Matt Campbell. With adding the pair of experienced defenders in Taupaki and Williams, gives the Nittany Lions some built-in experience under Lynn’s defensive philosophy.

The college football transfer portal has now entered its second week.

On Sunday, former Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman — the top-ranked receiver in the portal — committed to transfer to Texas, choosing the Longhorns over Texas Tech and Texas A&M.

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Many quarterbacks across the country have already expressed their intentions to enter the transfer portal or announced they will be looking for a new school.

That includes Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola, who is set to visit Oregon, according to On3. Raiola’s recruitment has played out slowly and quietly so far, but could ramp up with the Ducks out of the College Football Playoff.

Oregon QB Dante Moore hasn’t made his NFL Draft decision yet. It’s plausible that Raiola could even redshirt a seasons behind Moore if he decides to go to Oregon and Moore returns to to school. Raiola has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

If Moore goes to the NFL Draft, Raiola would presumably be Oregon’s starting QB in 2026.

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Former Florida QB DJ Lagway, is reportedly still talking to other schools, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, even after verbally committing to Baylor on Thursday. Ole Miss is one of the schools with reported interest.

There’s more clarity with Washington QB Demond Williams, who announced he’s returning to the school two days after trying to enter the transfer portal. His return to UW ended a drama-filled couple of days.

Like Raiola, Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt is yet to make a decision. He’s visiting Miami over the weekend.

We’ll be keeping track of all the notable names who are changing schools in the space below as college football prepares for its biggest transfer frenzy yet. The transfer portal will close on Jan. 16.

The college football offseason received a massive jolt of energy regarding a high-profile quarterback decision. A highly touted former five-star recruit officially placed his name into the transfer portal this week to spark an immediate recruiting battle. This move creates a significant shift in the landscape for several top-tier programs looking to upgrade their roster talent immediately.

He spent his freshman campaign serving as a backup for a prominent West Coast power before opting to explore other options. The decision comes after the incumbent starter announced plans to return for another season in Los Angeles. This talented passer possesses four years of eligibility and offers immediate upside for teams in need of a dynamic playmaker to lead their offense.

Elite programs are already lining up to secure his services for the upcoming campaign. Two major conference rivals have quickly emerged as the primary contenders for his commitment.

One suitor aims to get the prospect on campus immediately, while the other navigates its own complex quarterback room situation involving potential NFL departures.

Lane Kiffin and LSU battle Oregon for Husan Longstreet

Former USC quarterback Husan Longstreet is the player at the center of this developing saga. The Corona, California, native entered the portal Thursday after playing behind Jayden Maiava during his freshman season.

Maiava intends to return to the Trojans next year, which prompted the move. Longstreet finished his brief USC tenure with 103 passing yards and one touchdown across four appearances.

LSU appears to be the aggressor in this recruitment under new head coach Lane Kiffin. The Tigers are working to get Longstreet on campus before any other program. Kiffin has a clear need at center with Garrett Nussmeier ineligible and backup Michael Van Buren transferring to USF. The head coach also has a track record of developing transfers like Jaxson Dart and Trinidad Chambliss.

Longstreet has family roots in Louisiana, which could aid the Tigers. He was also intrigued by Kiffin during his high school recruitment when the coach was at Ole Miss. Kiffin has fully embraced a villain persona this offseason by attempting to flip Washington quarterback Demond Williams days after he signed a lucrative deal. That pursuit may have burned a bridge with fellow transfer target Sam Leavitt.

Oregon remains a major threat to land the talented passer despite the aggressive push from Baton Rouge. The Ducks join LSU as teams to watch closely, according to On3.

Head coach Dan Lanning is currently awaiting an NFL Draft decision from Dante Moore while also remaining in the mix for Dylan Raiola. Oregon has successfully used the portal to sign three consecutive starting quarterbacks, including Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel.

The decision for Longstreet could hinge on immediate playing time and offensive fit. Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein is departing to become the head coach at Kentucky which adds a variable to the Ducks’ pitch. USC will move forward with veteran Sam Huard as the primary backup to Maiava. Huard is playing for his fourth school in six years and recently threw a key pass on a fake punt against Northwestern.

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Just like any other college football season, this one has had a variety of stories both good and bad, but not all of them are created equal.

Yeah, we’ve heard about guys like Indiana (the favorite to win the natty) and Penn State (who took the biggest tumble from preseason hype), but what about those with telling performances that flew under the radar, the ones that haven’t been picked apart by the media? They deserve their own shares of the spotlight, and that’s precisely what they’ll be given today.

But the plan is not to simply sit here and list everyone that’s starting their offseason on a remotely good/bad note; rather, it’s to acknowledge the team that’s had the most encouraging run and the one that’s had the most discouraging…at least among those that virtually no one’s seeming to notice. With that said, the choice for our big winner in this equation should be rather agreeable.

Winner: Wake Forest

If you know anything about Wake Forest’s history in the football space, you know that the Demon Deacons usually have to take whatever they can get, but that wasn’t the case this season, as they finished with an objectively sound record of 9-4.

For a program so underhanded to do so well in these greedy times we live in is impressive on its own, but it involving both a road win over a ranked Virginia and a convincing bowl win over an SEC team (Mississippi State)—all while under the management of a first-year head coach in Jake Dickert—sounds borderline unbelievable.

That latter win made the 2025-26 campaign just the fourth to ever see the Deacs reach the nine-win threshold, and it also guaranteeing that the SEC wouldn’t amass a winning record against the ACC didn’t exactly kill any vibes either.

Loser: Nebraska

This selection may come off as weaker, as the Nebraska Cornhuskers are far removed from the days of their mediocrity being a surprise, but to me? This season was the first where they truly felt irredeemable.

Last season’s Huskers weren’t great, but by making and winning a bowl game against a Power 4 opponent to go positive, it appeared as if a page towards relevance was at least beginning to turn. When combining that with head coach Matt Rhule’s fame for his miracle-working usually paying off in his third year with a team (which was this season), some might have argued that 2025 should’ve been a breakthrough…yet here we are.

Despite starting its 2025 slate 7-3, Nebraska entered the Las Vegas Bowl 7-5 after suffering back-to-back blowouts against a struggling, interim-led Penn State, and rival Iowa. As for how things went in Vegas, the Cornhuskers got decimated again, this time against Utah, another team that had recently lost a legendary head coach. That left them with the same 7-6 tally they put up in ‘24, quantifying the lack of improvement.

Especially when other members of the Big Ten are successfully proving their conference to now be college football’s best, few endings are as disheartening as that one was for Nebraska—and just when you thought the gods of this great sport couldn’t test Huskers fans any harder.

The transfer portal has never moved this fast, or this early. Ten days into the winter window — which opened Jan. 2 and runs through Jan. 16 — 25 Power Four college football programs have already reached the 25-player mark in terms of entries as of Sunday morning. That level of turnover typically takes weeks to accumulate. For perspective, 38 Power Four teams reached that threshold across both portal windows last cycle, a process that stretched 40 total days between winter and spring.

This year’s accelerated pace reflects a shifting reality in college football. Roster decisions are being made earlier, with NIL and rev-share leverage and immediate eligibility compressing timelines for both players and staff. While coaching turnover remains a major driver of mass exits, it no longer explains the full scope of the movement.

Of the 18 Power Four programs with the most departures so far this cycle, 11 experienced a head coaching change. The other seven did not — a group navigating heavy roster churn despite overall staff continuity.

Below is a closer look at those Power Four teams without a coaching change that have seen the highest portal attrition so far during this shortened window, and what those departures actually mean beyond the raw numbers.

College football’s transfer portal has spun out of control

Brad Crawford

After posting the second-highest number of transfer portal departures among Power Four programs across both windows of the 2024-25 cycle last year following its coaching transition back to Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia finds itself near the top of the list again. This time, however, the Mountaineers lead all Power Four teams that did not undergo a coaching change, with 46 players exiting via the portal as of Saturday evening.

That raw number, however, needs context.

Only four of those players started at least six games, and just 10 logged 200 or more snaps during the 2025 season, limiting the overall damage to the depth chart. Still, West Virginia did lose meaningful production. Top receiver Cam Vaughn, as well as leading rushers Diore Hubbard and Cyncir Bowers all entered the portal, a notable blow for an offense searching for continuity.

That trio accounted for 11 of West Virginia’s 33 offensive touchdowns this season.

Mike Norvell faces immense pressure to get Florida State back on track in Tallahassee after back-to-back disappointing seasons. That turnaround, however, will once again require significant roster reconstruction. Florida State has the second-most transfer portal departures this cycle among Power Four programs that did not undergo a coaching change.

The most immediate impact has come on the defensive side of the ball. Safeties Edwin Joseph and Earl Little Jr. — who initially declared for the 2026 NFL Draft before entering the portal Tuesday — are the only two departures who started double-digit games. Still, the volume of experience leaving the roster is notable.

Six additional transfers made at least six starts, a figure that doesn’t even include two of the most surprising exits of the cycle: twin defensive linemen Darryll Desir and Mandrell Desir. Both were widely expected to remain in Tallahassee but now rank among the highest-rated edge rushers in Cooper Petagna’s 247Sports transfer portal rankings.

In total, 10 departing Seminoles logged at least 200 snaps this season, leaving Florida State with real snaps — not just roster spots — to replace as Norvell reshapes the roster yet again.

Deion Sanders’ year-to-year rebuild at Colorado begins again. With 35 players entering the transfer portal already this cycle, the Buffaloes are set for another roster reset — but in Sanders’ model, that’s part of the plan, not a setback.

The defensive backfield has taken the hardest hit. Cornerback DJ McKinney, as well as safeties Tawfiq Byard and Carter Soutmire — three of the most experienced starters — are gone, leaving significant gaps in coverage. Offensively, leading receiver Omarion Miller and several linemen depart, meaning Colorado must replace production as well as depth once again. In total, 13 portal exits logged at least 200 snaps this season with six of those being starters.

For Colorado, the 2026 season will test Sanders’ philosophy again: can a continuous transfer‑first approach build enough cohesion and sustained production to compete in the Big 12?

At first glance, Mississippi State’s placement on this list may raise eyebrows, but the context is important. Of the Bulldogs’ 34 transfer portal departures this cycle, only one was a regular starter: defensive lineman Kedrick Bingley-Jones. Just four other players logged more than 200 snaps during the season — offensive lineman Jimothy Lewis Jr., who split time between left and right tackle; wide receiver Jordan Mosley, who caught eight passes on 16 targets; and defensive backs Tony Mitchell and Jayven Williams, reserve players who combined for 43 tackles.

For coach Jeff Lebby and his staff, that’s not particularly alarming. Much of the Bulldogs’ roster turnover has come from depth players rather than key contributors. Mississippi State was in a similar situation during the previous cycle, losing 39 players across both windows — only four of whom were starters.

In other words, while the portal activity is high in volume yet again, the impact on immediate on-field production is limited. 

Until this cycle, Dave Aranda’s program had quietly been one of the more stable operations in the portal era. Baylor entered the winter having lost just 55 players across the previous four transfer cycles — tied for the third-fewest among current Power Four teams, alongside Iowa and behind only Clemson and Northwestern with 44 each.

That context makes this cycle stand out.

Baylor now sits among the top 15 Power Four programs in total departures and ranks tied for fifth among teams that didn’t undergo a coaching change, with 30 exits — already 11 more than the Bears lost in the previous cycle alone. More notably, the attrition cuts into production. Nine departing players logged at least 200 snaps and six of those were regular starters.

The losses span every level of the roster. Interior offensive lineman Coleton Price, the top-ranked IOL transfer in Cooper Petagna’s 247Sports portal rankings, is gone. Linebacker Keaton Thomas leaves after leading the team with 99 total tackles, while safety DJ Coleman and linebacker Emar’rion Winston take proven defensive snaps with them. 

Offensively, Bryson Washington’s exit looms largest after he rushed for 1,816 yards and scored 20 total touchdowns over the past two seasons.

For Baylor, this isn’t just volume — it’s a break from recent precedent as Dave Aranda tries to steady a program that’s seen uneven results six seasons into his tenure.

The portal wasn’t around the last time Scott Frost was building a roster at UCF. During his first stint in Orlando in 2016 and 2017, transfers were few and far between. This time around, the rebuild is unfolding in a far more volatile environment — and the volume reflects it. UCF has seen 30 players enter the portal this cycle, a notable number as Frost continues to reshape the roster for his second tenure.

Like some of the teams near the top of this list, the Knights have lost meaningful contributors. Four departing players were regular starters in 2025. Wide receiver DJ Black finished as the team’s fourth-leading receiver with 273 yards and two touchdowns. Defensive lineman John Walker, a 320-pound interior presence, totaled 39 tackles and was a key piece of the rotation up front. Quarterback Tayven Jackson made 10 starts, while center Carter Miller started nine games before injuries cut his season short.

Beyond those starters, the attrition extends into the rotation. Defensive lineman Rodney Lora, edge rusher Jamaal Johnson and tight end Kylan Fox each logged at least 200 snaps, further chipping away at experienced depth.

Other Power Four programs without a coaching change that have already reached the 25-departure mark include Ohio State (29), Louisville (28), North Carolina (27), Syracuse (26), Illinois (25), Kansas (25), Oklahoma (25) and Tennessee (25).