Looking back at both college football transfer portal windows, here are five quarterbacks that will make the biggest impact next season.
The college football transfer portal has changed the sport. There’s no debating that and combined with NIL, it’s created a free agency of sorts for college football teams.
A perfect example was Payton Thorne. He was expected to start at Michigan State but was enticed by the transfer portal and wound up at Auburn, where he will have a chance to start and play for Hugh Freeze.
A bunch of college football teams went searching for quarterback upgrades this offseason in the transfer portal. It worked last offseason with Caleb Williams and USC. There aren’t any quarterbacks that are going to have quite that impact this college football season, but here are the five transfer portal quarterbacks that will have the biggest impact heading into 2023.
DJ Uiagalelei, Oregon State
There was a lot of pressure for DJ Uiagalelei to be the next great thing at Clemson after replacing Trevor Lawrence and he didn’t quite live up to it. But Clemson’s offense didn’t do him any favors and when he transferred to Oregon State, he basically said he wanted to play in an offense that would let him be who he is.
Clemson hired a new offensive coordinator, stealing Garrett Riley away from TCU, which shows that Uiagalelei wasn’t the only problem. Furthermore, lots of college football teams would take a quarterback that completed over 61 percent of his passes with 22 touchdown passes and seven rushing touchdowns.
Clemson did win the ACC last season, even though Uiagalelei was replaced in the ACC title game. My point is, at Oregon State, which won 10 games last season, Uiagalelei is going to thrive. The pressure won’t be so intense and the system will be a better fit.
It’s going to work out and more college football teams are going to wish they pursued the former five-star quarterback when he entered the transfer portal.
Jeff Sims, Nebraska
Another really interesting fit in terms of the transfer portal quarterbacks is former Georgia Tech starter Jeff Sims playing at Nebraska under Matt Rhule.
Rhule had ties to Sims’ former head coach Geoff Collins. Rhule said that he watched some games and that connection came in handy when Sims entered the transfer portal. This spring, he won the starting job as Casey Thompson has left, which means Sims is now Nebraska’s QB1.
Sims is 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, and has all the natural ability in the world. His arm is strong, he can run and while he needs to fine-tune his accuracy, he can be a real weapon for the Huskers.
There are question marks. He’s never played in more than 10 games and his career completion percentage is 57.5. He’s also thrown 30 career touchdowns compared to 23 interceptions. He also ran for 288 yards and a touchdown last season. For his career, Sims has rushed for 1,152 yards and having an impactful quarterback is going to mean Nebraska gets back to a bowl game.
I don’t necessarily buy Sims as a Heisman candidate or anything, but if he had a stellar season and returned for the Huskers in 2024, you never know. At any rate, I believe he’ll make an immediate impact in the Big Ten West.
Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin
Few college football teams are undertaking a bigger change than Wisconsin, which hired Luke Fickell as its new head coach. Fickell brought Phil Longo from North Carolina with him and the offense is going to be different.
The Badgers aren’t going to abandon running the football. Fickell knows what it takes to win in the Big Ten, but the offense is going to throw the ball more and the hope is that quarterback won’t be a liability anymore.
Graham Mertz held Wisconsin back the last two seasons and Tanner Mordecai, the former SMU starter with 72 touchdown passes to his credit over the past two seasons, should be an upgrade, especially with some of the receivers Wisconsin was able to add in the transfer portal.
The Big Ten West is wide open. Most teams have a new starting quarterback or a new head coach and if Mordecai can deliver on his promise, the Badgers could easily win the Big Ten West. In fact, they are my favorite to do so.
Devin Leary, Kentucky
Devin Leary was one of the top-ranked quarterbacks in the college football transfer portal this offseason and if you look back to his 2021 season, you can see why.
During that season, Leary threw for 3,433 yards, 35 touchdowns, and just five interceptions for North Carolina State while completing 65.7 percent of his passes. If Leary had done that last season, he wouldn’t be playing college football any longer.
Instead, Leary played just six games. He completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 11 touchdowns compared to four interceptions. His yards per attempt dropped from 8.0 to 6.6.
For Kentucky, it comes down to which Leary are you getting. In the other three college football seasons he has played, the 6-foot-1, 212-pound quarterback has thrown for a combined 27 touchdowns as well as 11 interceptions.
The biggest thing is staying healthy. If Leary does that, Kentucky should be in the running for a double-digit win season and a New Year’s Six bowl berth.
It’s hard to see Kentucky beating Tennessee or Georgia, but the Wildcats could have the best quarterback in the SEC next season and that’s worth something.
Sam Hartman, Notre Dame football
To me, the top spot is easy and should go to new Notre Dame football quarterback Sam Hartman.
The Fighting Irish didn’t land a ton of players in the college football transfer portal. They have even lost some during the spring window such as former starting QB Tyler Buchner, but it doesn’t matter. They got the right ones
Sam Hartman is exactly what Notre Dame football needed to get back to the College Football Playoff. The Irish have talent everywhere and have a playoff-caliber roster — they just needed a proven QB.
Buchner could have turned into that guy this season, but he wasn’t great when he got his chance to start early in 2022 and Hartman is the kind of proven QB Notre Dame football hasn’t had in a while.
Hartman was the top-ranked QB in the portal and completed 63.1 percent of his throws a year ago. He also had 38 touchdown passes and has 77 total in the past two seasons. Hartman has also thrown 26 interceptions.
The offense will be a little different than what he was used to at Wake Forest. Yet, more emphasis on balance and running the ball could be a good thing.
Ultimately, Hartman was the perfect fit for Notre Dame football and because of him, the goal is for the Irish to make the playoffs.