The College Football Transfer Portal will open up in two days, creating a 14 day window of chaos from January 2nd through the 16th. Oftentimes, everyone always sees the side of the Transfer Portal that can be rewarding as it can give teams an easy way to fill holes on the roster. For every big addition one program makes, there's another program taking a massive hit.
While the Transfer Portal doesn't open for a few more days, thousands of college football players have announced their intentions to leave. Early on, 5 programs have suffered a jarring number of transfer losses.
Saturday Blitz transfer portal rankings 2026: QB, WR, RB,TE, OL, EDGE, DL, LB, CB, S
These 5 programs have lost the most players to the Transfer Portal
It will be another offseason filled with turnover in Tallahassee as Mike Norvell has already seen 26 of his players enter the Transfer Portal. The high turnover rate has to be a concern given how badly Norvell's staff has missed on their transfer additions the last two seasons. The 2026 season is going to be a prove it year for Mike Norvell, and with some of his losses in the portal, he's off to a rough start.
Auburn is having a frustrating offense as a roster that was a quarterback away now has serious holes. Alex Golesh has lost some extremely valuable pieces in star WR Cam Coleman, freshman QB Deuce Knight, CB Jay Crawford, and more. Golesh will need to do an impressive job bringing in players, otherwise the fanbase could turn on him quickly.
After Rich Rodriguez's first season back in Morgantown, the roster will be turning over at an incredibly high rate. The biggest loss is star running back Jahiem White, but for the most part, the Mountaineers aren't suffering significant losses. Rodriguez is going to need to put together an impressive transfer class if this team is going to bounce back from a 4-8 season.
Oklahoma State having 45 players in the Transfer Portal is the least surprising of any program on this list. Given how early Mike Gundy was fired, players were able to opt-out and transfer while playing less than 4 games which ensured they were able to redshirt. Eric Morris had an impressive roster at North Texas, and the Mean Green will likely end up being the victim of Oklahoma State's turnover.
Matt Campbell taking the Penn State job has wrecked Iowa State's roster for at least the 2026 season, and maybe even long term. The Cyclones have lost 47 players and counting to the Transfer Portal with some serious top end talent in Rocco Becht, Benjamin Brahmer, Jeremiah Cooper, and Jontez Williams all leaving. Jimmy Rogers is going to have to find a ton of players willing to come in and build out this roster as you can't replace all this talent at once.