College football transfer portal: Winners and losers from the 2023 cycle

Deion Sanders’ roster overhaul at the University of Colorado has been the talk of the college football offseason.

The numbers are staggering: More than 50 players from last year’s roster have entered the college football transfer portal, and more than 40 of them arrived in the last month alone.

When it has been plenty of extensive criticism on how Sanders has gone about changing Colorado’s roster, FOX Sports college football analyst RJ Young asked why so much negativity has been directed his way when other schools have done so in recent years.

“It feels extremely unfair to talk about how Prime has turned the roster around in Colorado when everyone who knows football is saying he had no options,” Young said on a recent episode of his podcast. The Number One College Football Show with RJ Young.” “That team was 1-11 last year. You’re not going to win football games with a team that isn’t as talented in the Pac-12 conference where you have to play the likes of USC, Washington, Oregon.

“Portal has over 400 players from Power-5 schools. Prime now only needs nine to get to 85, and that wasn’t even in June. What’s all this noise about? Can we say some of the same noise, USC, which has also flipped the roster over the last couple of years ?”

When Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma to take the head coaching job at USC in November 2021, he immediately went to work, using the transfer portal as a tool to help build a roster that could be competitive in the Pac-12. Riley added 20 players through the portal in just over four months, including 2022 Heisman winner Caleb Williams, who of course came with him from Oklahoma.

Riley and the Trojans were active again this offseason in the portal, adding 15 transfers, several of whom are expected to be impact players at USC this upcoming season.

Young listed his top winners and losers from the transfer portal last season, with both Colorado and USC landing in the “winners” column.

Here’s a look at his full list:

Winners:

Colorado Buffaloes

Main additions:
Travis Hunter (CB/WR, Jackson State)
Shedeur Sanders (QB, Jackson State)
Jahquez Robinson (CB, Alabama)
Tarvarish Dawson (WR, Auburn)
Willie Gaines (WR, Jackson State)
Derrick McLendon (Edge, Florida State)
Vito Tisdale (S, Kentucky)
Omarion Cooper (CB, Florida State)

Young in Colorado: “Obviously you can win when you add Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to the transfer portal.”

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USC Trojans

Main additions:
Dorian Singer (WR, Arizona)
MarShawn Lloyd (RB, South Carolina)
Mason Cobb (LB, Oklahoma State)
Bear Alexander (DL, Georgia)
Anthony Lucas (Edge, Texas A&M)
Jack Sullivan (DL, Purdue)
Jamil Muhammad (LB, Georgia State)

Young at USC: “Eric Gentry didn’t go anywhere. I know he was hurt last year, but he was an outstanding linebacker. The idea that that guy played in the middle of the defense, as opposed to the background of your defense, is outstanding.”

LSU Tigers

Main additions:
Denver Harris (CB, Texas A&M)
Darian Chestnut (CB, Syracuse)
Omar Speights (LB, Oregon State)
Aaron Anderson (WR, Alabama)
Mason Lunsford (OT, Maryland)
Ovie Oghoufo (LB, Texas)
Jakailin Johnson (CB, Ohio State)

Young people at LSU: “Harold Perkins isn’t going anywhere. That’s a win on the transfer portal. Harold Perkins might be the best defensive player in the SEC.”

Oklahoma Sooners

Main additions:
Dasan McCullough (Edge, Indiana)
Rondell Bothroyd (Edge, Wake Forest)
Walter Rouse (OT, Stanford)
Trace Ford (Edge, Oklahoma State)
Brenen Thompson (WR, Texas)
Jacob Lacey (DL, Notre Dame)

Youth in Oklahoma: “Oklahoma added some studs on the defensive line.”

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Florida State Seminoles

Main additions:
Fentrell Cypress (CB, Virginia)
Jeremiah Byers (OT, UTEP)
Jaheim Bell (TE, South Carolina)
Keon Coleman (WR, Michigan State)
Braden Fiske (DL, Western Michigan)
Casey Roddick (OL, Colorado)

Young in the State of Florida: “Jared Verse didn’t go anywhere. That’s a guy who would have been a first-round draft pick if he decided to come out this year.”

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Main additions:
Sam Hartman (QB, Wake Forest)
Antonio Carter (S, Rhode Island)
Kaleb Smith (WR, Virginia Tech)
Javontae Jean-Baptiste (Edge, Ohio State)

Youth at Notre Dame: “Sam Hartiman decided to move to South Bend where it will be him and Marcus Freeman.”

Michigan Wolverines

Main additions:
Ernest Hausmann (LB, Nebraska)
Drake Nugent (OL, Stanford}
LaDarius Henderson (OL, Arizona State)
Josaiah Stewart (Edge, Coastal Carolina)
Myles Hinton (OT, Stanford)
AJ Barner (TE, Indiana)
Jack Tuttle (QB, Indiana)

Young in Michigan: “Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards didn’t go anywhere. That’s why you win. You’ve got two tailbacks that can start for anybody, anywhere, anytime. They decided no, we want to stay here, run it back, we want to get back to college football to the playoffs for the third time, we’d like to beat Ohio State for the third time, we’d like to win the Big Ten championship for the third time.”

Losers:

Michigan State Spartans

Main losses:
Payton Thorne (QB, Auburn)
Keon Coleman (WR, Florida State)
Jalen Hunt (DL, Houston)
Jeff Pietrowski (Edge, Wisconsin)
Germie Bernard (WR, Washington)
Elijah Collins (RB, Oklahoma State)

Young in the state of Michigan: “They have a real problem at quarterback, I don’t want to shy away from that. You ask a lot of Noah Kim and Katin Houser, do you think those guys are going to replace Payton Thorne, who ends up at Auburn. Put aside Keon Coleman, a. guy who caught 798 yards and 58 passes as a sophomore.”

South Carolina Gamecocks

Main losses:
Jaheim Bell (TE, Florida State)
Jordan Burch (Edge, Oregon)
MarShawn Lloyd (RB, USC)
Austin Stogner (TE, Oklahoma)

Youth in South Carolina: “You lose Jaheim Bell, who was kind of like Deebo Samuel for them. He had 261 rushing yards because he had to play tailback when MarShawn Lloyd got hurt, and he also had 231 receiving yards. You look at him, yeah, you can find In every way he’s going to be outstanding at Florida State. Austin Stogner also decided to transfer back to Oklahoma, so you’ve got to replace both your tight ends and your starting backs, that’s tough.”

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Main losses:
Spencer Sanders (QB, Ole Miss)
Braylin Presley (WR, Tulsa)
Stephon Johnson (WR, Houston)
Dominic Richardson (RB, Baylor)
John Paul Richardson (WR, TCU)
Trace Ford (Edge, Oklahoma)
Thomas Harper (CB, Notre Dame)
Demarco Jones (CB, Tulsa)
Jabbar Muhammad (CB, Washington)
Mason Cobb (LB, USC)

Junior at Oklahoma State: “It’s not like you lost guys, you lost guys that everybody else wants. It’s tough. There’s just a lot to overcome. I expect Mike Gundy to pull a rabbit out of the hat, because that’s what Mike Gundy has been doing since he’s been coaching at Oklahoma State. He’s done a really great job of finding diamonds in the rough.”

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