The college football spring transfer portal window has closed and here are the three biggest winners, as well as the biggest losers.
Even though college football players (except graduates) don’t have the ability to enter the transfer portal anymore since the spring window has closed, player movement is far from finished.
However, the first few weeks of the spring college football transfer portal window have given us a pretty good idea of how things are going to play out.
There is still elite talent out there such as former Michigan State wide receiver Keon Coleman. He’s not the only big-name player still in the transfer portal either.
So the transfer portal rankings for college football this spring will likely change. The winners and losers could change too, but for right now, here are three winners and losers from the spring college football transfer portal.
Winner: Auburn
Auburn added a few really talented players this spring such as Caleb Burton, a former top-100 wideout that was at Ohio State, as well as former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne.
That was the addition that made Auburn football a transfer portal winner this spring in my opinion. Thorne wasn’t perfect and some Michigan State fans will tell you he was going to have to have a battle on his hands to start this fall, but there’s hiding the fact that he accounted for over 50 touchdowns the past two seasons.
Thorne is a no-doubt power-5 starter and the Auburn Tigers didn’t have that before this spring college football transfer portal window.
Winner: Alabama
Alabama had some very real needs to fill this spring in the transfer portal window and one of those was at quarterback.
Tyler Buchner entered the portal after Notre Dame football added Sam Hartman and now Buchner is part of a three-way competition to be the starter. Two four-star freshmen are being added to the mix too, so Alabama will have five QBs formerly ranked in the top 125 competing for the job.
Alabama also reinforced the secondary with safety Jalen Key from South Florida and corner Trey Amos from Louisiana. Both players were highly sought in the portal by other college football programs and the Tide did well this spring to fill some needs
Winner: USC Trojans
This list of college football winners this spring in the transfer portal isn’t in order. But if it was, USC would probably come out on top.
Just like last spring, Lincoln Riley absolutely killed it in the transfer portal, landing arguably the top overall player in former Georgia defensive tackle Bear Alexander, while also landing highly-touted offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon.
Just about every college football team would have taken Pregnon and the former Wyoming standout will be starting for the Trojans, who reinforced both their offensive and defensive fronts this spring, adding to the No. 2 overall transfer class.
Tre’Quon Fegans is also a four-star cornerback that USC added from Alabama and should shore up a defense that wasn’t good enough to get to the College Football Playoff a year ago.
Loser: Michigan State
Losing Payton Thorne, the projected starting quarterback for Michigan State and the starter for each of the past two seasons was tough enough, but losing Keon Coleman was brutal for the Spartans.
If there was any doubt about his impact, 59 college football teams reached out after his decision. Coleman has visited Florida State, Auburn, Ole Miss, and is heading to Texas A&M. We’ll see where he ends up but unless the Spartans get him back, they probably are the biggest loser this spring.
Loser: Nebraska
This might surprise some people but it wasn’t a great transfer portal window for the Huskers. Casey Thompson, a guy that could have competed for the starting job, left for Florida Atlantic, plus Stephon Wynn, a guy that was basically a starter in the spring, also transferred.
Making matters worse, the day before the spring college football transfer portal window closed, Ajay Allen, a guy that flashed as a freshman running back, decided to transfer and signed with Miami.
Jeff Sims is going to start for Nebraska, so losing Thompson might not be that bad, but if Sims, who has never started more than 10 games in a season and only played in 15 over the last two years, gets hurt again, losing Thompson will feel like even more of a blow.
Loser: Notre Dame football
The Irish just landed former Rhode Island defensive back Antonio Carter this week, which was certainly a nice addition, but Notre Dame football has suffered some losses too.
I know Notre Dame football fans weren’t over the moon about Buchner, but Nick Saban sure pounced quickly and took a starting option off the board for the Irish in 2024.
CJ Carr is coming in the 2024 class and the five-star from Michigan might need to be ready to start. Buchner would have been a logical choice, but now it could be down to Kenny Minchey, a top-200 QB from 2023, or Carr. Steven Angeli is another option but hasn’t impressed much since joining the team.
And like Nebraska, if Hartman gets hurt this season, the Irish could be in a world of hurt after also losing Drew Pyne to Arizona State. Beyond that, running back Logan Diggs appears headed to LSU, so that was a loss, along with wideout Lorenzo Styles.
It’s not all bad for Notre Dame football, but on the whole, this spring was a net negative for the Fighting Irish in terms of 2023 roster movement.