The NCAA transfer portal plays a huge impact on all sports. College football's transfer portal draws the most amount of attention, however.
A number of stars have entered the transfer portal this year. We have also seen transfers make pivotal impacts on their new teams in the past. Sometimes, college football programs will be forced into a rebuild after losing players in the transfer portal.
Players such as Shedeur Sanders, Ray Davis, and Keon Coleman helped their new teams in a major way this past season after entering the portal following last year.
Duke's Riley Leonard, Ohio State's Kyle McCord, Washington State's Cameron Ward, Oregon State's DJ Uiagalelei, and Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel are just a few of the stars who entered the portal this season. Let's take a closer look into this year's portal and its impact on college football.
Ohio State, Oregon Heading in Different Directions?
McCord's decision to leave the Buckeyes came as a surprise. He did not have his best season in 2023 but still performed well overall.
The Buckeyes will either need to add a QB or turn to someone already in the program. After another difficult loss to Michigan this season, Ohio State has questions about the future to say the least.
Former head coach and current analyst Urban Meyer did not understand McCord's decision to leave Ohio State, per Matt Connolly of On3.
"That made no sense," Meyer said. "I'm still trying to comprehend it. I tried to take a position of Kyle or even Ohio State, and it just doesn't compute."
Meyer explained that he was not trying to criticize McCord's decision. He just does not think there will be a better option for the QB.
"I'm trying to make it compute, because I want to be empathetic and I want to say, 'OK, I understand.' There's no place better for Kyle than Ohio State," Meyer continued. "That place does not exist, unless he's being guaranteed a starting spot. But once again, I don't agree with that's the best place.
"I think iron sharpens iron, steel sharpens steel. The best thing that anybody can ever do is go and compete your tail off, get better and maximize who you are as a player."
It will be interesting to see how McCord performs with his new team in 2024, and how Ohio State fares with a new QB next season.
Meanwhile, Oregon is replacing 2023 Heisman Trophy finalist Bo Nix with Dillon Gabriel. Gabriel entered the transfer portal after previously playing with Oklahoma and recently announced his commitment to Oregon.
The Ducks were always going to have a difficult time trying to replace a star like Nix. Gabriel, though, is a talented player who should help Oregon remain competitive moving forward.
A Power 5 recruiting coordinator commented on Gabriel's potential impact on Oregon, per Max Olson and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
"He is very accurate, has a really quick release and is a dangerous runner. He's really football savvy and is a great college quarterback."
Perhaps stating that Ohio State and Oregon are headed in different directions is a bit of an over-exaggeration. After all, the Ducks are still losing a star in Nix to the NFL while the Buckeyes will surely find a talented QB.
Oregon did a tremendous job of quickly finding a replacement, though.
Quarterbacks are important. However, one defensive tackle's decision to transfer will have a massive effect on college football next year.
Nolen Enters Transfer Portal
Walter Nolen is the top player in the transfer portal. He is set to leave Texas A&M and his decision will play a big role in shaping the 2024 season. Any competitive team that adds a superstar like Nolen to their defense will instantly take a pivotal step forward.
Nolen is reportedly going to visit Oregon, per Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports. He is not committed to Oregon yet, though, leaving the door open for other programs.
Top programs such as Texas, Michigan, Florida State, Georgia and others could make sense as landing destinations. Just about every team in the nation will have interest in Nolen.
Nolen is surely looking to join a team that has championship aspirations. His presence on an already solid defense would make whichever team he joins a contender to say the least.
Other Transfers to Watch Ahead of 2024
Cameron Ward, Princely Umanmielen and Dante Moore are just a few names to closely monitor moving forward. Ward and Umanmielen are still undecided while Moore has been linked to Michigan State and Miami.
One thing to note is there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the portal. Florida State's general manager of personnel Darrick Yray previously provided a behind-the-scenes look at programs' mindsets when it comes to adding a transfer, via an article from Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports in May of 2023.
"The initial evaluation happens very quickly, but we also also don't want to pin ourselves in a hole that, yes or no, we're going to take someone right then and there," Yray said. "The initial evaluation to make sure that it is someone we're going to recruit happens quickly, but the evaluation never stops from the moment that they set foot on campus."
College football programs are always evaluating and scouting. The portal provides a different way for teams to land star players even after they originally committed to other schools. The better a reputation that a program has, the more likely they will be to draw interest from star transfers.
The transfer portal, as mentioned earlier, is going to play a key role in determining which teams will perform well during the 2024 season. Adding key players via the portal could drastically change certain teams' outlooks for the 2024 season. In fact, teams can emerge as potential College Football Playoff contenders by utilizing the portal.
Fans will want to closely monitor where stars end up transferring as their decisions are announced moving forward.
