Category: College Football

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The transfer portal can improve a program, but how do you really calculate who had the best cycle — and not just which teams landed the best 2024 transfer classes? There are a few ways to break things down and below we analyze the Power Four conferences by categories:

Net Rating GainAverage Transfer RatingTransfers InTransfers Out

Why is it important to look at net rating gain? Not every team adds as much as it subtracts in the portal, so the math rarely matches in the ledgers. So, in an effort to simplify the problem and better evaluate teams as we enter the summer, we took the average rating of the players leaving each program — ratings via the 247Sports transfer rankings team — and compared it to the average rating of the players entering the program. We then distill that number to reach a net gain or net loss. 

After doing deep-dives on each conference earlier this week, here’s a more overarching look at how each Power Four team did in the transfer portal’s 2024 cycle. We have sorted each table by the team’s net rating gain, but there’s plenty of other information to glean, too. 

Key ACC transfer portal takeaways 

FSU is arguably the most successful program in the portal era, ranking in the top 25 of 247Sports’ rankings every year under Norvell with an average finish at No. 9. The Seminoles have done this despite not exceeding 17 transfers in the last four years, a stark contrast to the likes of Colorado (93 transfers in two years) or Arizona State (60 transfers in two years).
NC State is positioned to win at least eight games for a fifth straight season…..

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Joey McGuire had no choice but to start three quarterbacks in each of his first two seasons as Texas Tech football coach. No other way around it, thanks to injuries.

And when Tyler Shough and Behren Morton both were sidelined two years in a row, it merely extended a pattern. The last season in which the Red Raiders didn’t have a starting quarterback miss a game because of injury was 2017. The last Tech quarterback to start every game was Patrick Mahomes II in 2016.

Some might take that as a sign to avoid running the quarterback at all costs. McGuire says he doesn’t much want to use Morton in a quarterback-run game next season, but that doesn’t mean he’s shelving the quarterback-run game. Not by a long shot. He recruited West Georgia transfer Cameran Brown for the express purpose of keeping that element in the playbook.

McGuire credited senior offensive analyst Kirk Bryant with putting together scouting information for Bryant and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Zach Kittley to review.

“The one thing I wanted whenever I asked them to look is a true dual-threat quarterback,” McGuire said recently, “because it was going to be hard to recruit a guy knowing that Behren was the number-one guy. Part of the sales pitch to him coming to Texas Tech is that, ‘We’re going to be able to play you in different situations, so it’s not like you’re just coming to be a backup.’ “

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Brown, listed at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, was named the No. 2 quarterback at the end of spring practice, ahead of recent scholarship signees Jake Strong and Will Hammond. A…

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Michael Alford might have the best seat in college athletics. From a field-level box that he personally reimagined at Dick Howser Stadium, Florida State’s athletic director might be sitting closer to the batter than either dugout-bound coach. Alford is able to watch this weekend’s NCAA baseball super regional surrounded by food, drink, boosters and praise. 

This is part of the third-year AD’s kingdom. As the baseball season winds down, the former Mississippi State outfielder is basking in more than sunlight. Mike Norvell has stopped by, a sign that football is back but also a reminder of the hurt that still lingers from being left out of the College Football Playoff following the 2023 season.

“It just wasn’t right,” Alford grumbles between pitches.

It wouldn’t be fair to label Alford as the primary force behind Florida State’s push to exit the ACC, but he is the leader of a powerful athletic brand making news almost daily at this point. And Alford, thankfully, has been available on the subject since the exit attempt became public during a live-streamed board of trustees meeting in February 2023. 

Since then, Florida State has arguably committed enough words, effort and documents to provide a legal walk-through for any school that wants to follow its path.

“I’d say there’s a lot of people interested in the formula, the blueprint,” Alford told CBS Sports. “[There have been] a lot of questions about how we got to this point. It’s really looking at the analytical side of where this business is going, making sure we are positioning ourselves for the future.”

That formula/blueprint is still in the development. FSU sued the ACC last December. Clemson followed with its own suit in March. The ACC has counter-sued. 

That’s…

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The USC-LSU college football season opener is one of the best games in Week 1 of the season, just before Labor Day. We joined the Powers On Sports podcast, hosted by Jason Powers, to discuss that game plus a few other Week 1 showcase games.

We also talked about non-college football topics, just so you know, but college football was very much a part of our menu of items with Jason.

The USC-LSU game is fascinating for a number of reasons. One is that the two programs have a lot in common. They both had terrible defenses last season and completely revamped their defensive coaching staffs. They both had Heisman Trophy winners at quarterback the past two seasons. They both have coaches who left elite programs for other elite programs. They both underachieved last year. They both have failed to win conference championships this decade. They both have inadequate depth on their defensive lines. They both have uncertain quarterback situations entering the 2024 season.

It will be fascinating to see how that game plays out.

Here’s the Powers on Sports podcast below:

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Check out more NFL draft coverage with the USA TODAY Sports NFL Draft Hub.

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire

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The transfer portal has revolutionized roster building across college football, and the Big 12 is no exception. Every team in the conference experienced turnover and hopes a newcomer can quickly slide into a new role. Four schools looked to the transfer portal for starting quarterbacks, while four more return a former transfer as a starter in 2024. 

At times, the transfer portal has lifted a team’s ceiling. TCU slapped together a defense with key transfers and reached the national title game in 2022. Other times, overreliance has tanked programs. Look no further than BYU and Houston, both of which took more than 20 transfers last season and finished a combined 4-14 in Big 12 play. 

While Big 12 teams added a handful of star players, others opted to lean on internal improvement. Five schools added 10 or fewer transfers. Among them were Iowa State and Oklahoma State — two of the top three teams in the country in returning production. 

Here are the top transfers entering the Big 12 in 2024, headlined by a handful of key offensive targets. 

Utah WR Dorian Singer

Revamping a miserable passing game was a top priority for Kyle Whittingham and his staff entering 2024, and Singer adds immediate firepower. The fourth-year player caught 66 passes for 1,105 yards and six touchdowns in 2022 at Arizona and impressed with 16.7 yards per catch. He adds a downfield threat for returning quarterback Cameron Rising.

Singer is the headliner, but Utah added three receivers overall, including Washington’s Taeshaun Lyons and Syracuse’s Damien Alford. The Utes finished last place in the Pac-12 in passing offense last season, but the new additions should revamp the unit and potentially key a Big 12 title run. Singer ranked as the No. 29 receiver in the…

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2024 is a big year for college sports. Major realignment has changed the face of the sport forever. The Pac-12 as we know it is gone, and the remainder of the Power Five, now Power Four, will be accepting new members.

One thing remains constant amid the newness: the Oklahoma Sooners are looking for that elusive eighth national title. And as they head to the sport’s toughest conference the Sooners are having a revolution of sorts themselves.

Dillon Gabriel is no longer the starting quarterback. He’ll hold that role at Oregon. Jackson Arnold is now the man on campus for the Sooners. With just months away from his first full campaign, projecting what Arnold will look like is fool’s gold. We don’t know. We saw a young quarterback making his first collegiate start in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

ESPN writer David Hale ranked every FBS team’s quarterback situation into tiers (subscription required.). While there is no Caleb Williams or Drake Maye level of surefire quarterback, there is talent throughout the nation. Jackson Arnold was placed in Tier 4, deemed “The Young and the Restless.”

It features names like Avery Johnson (Kansas State), Dylan Raiola (Nebraska), Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee), and USC‘s Miller Moss.

There’s a lot of recruiting pedigree among these names. Multiple four – and five-star quarterbacks, but they only have a combined four starts. Raiola is a true freshman this year and has yet to take a snap in a real college game.

Hale believes that there’s a real possibility that a couple of the players in this group could rise to Tier 1. Oklahoma’s hoping and banking on that. Arnold’s arm talent is second to none. Still, he needs the repetitions and the experience to materialize into the quality of quarterback that people have come to expect in Norman.

For all of Lincoln Riley’s deserved praise…

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Colorado defensive back Shilo Sanders, son of head coach Deion Sanders, is $11 million in debt and filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, according to USA Today.  The petition for relief — which was filed under Chapter 7 in Colorado’s Bankruptcy Code — states Sanders is on the hook for $11.3 million stemming from a March 2022 civil trial in Texas. The initial filing noted Sanders owns $478,000 in assets, though an amendment in December brought that number down to $320,000. 

The filing obtained by USA Today states that Sanders brought in a gross income of $193,713 during the 2023 fiscal year. That number is actually down from the $216,950 he netted while playing at Jackson State in 2022. A large portion of his income can be attributed to name, image and likeness deals — Sanders reported a Mercedes valued at almost $76,000 among his assets — but it’s a far cry from some of the NIL projections that external metrics have placed on the Colorado star.

Here’s a look at the lengthy legal battle that brought Sanders to this point and what his bankruptcy filing could mean.  

Legal troubles stem from a high school incident

John Darjean, a former security guard at Triple A Academy in Dallas, Texas, filed a lawsuit against Sanders and his family in June 2016. The suit alleges that in 2015, Sanders — who was 15 at the time — assaulted Darjean after Sanders refused Darjean’s request to turn over his cellphone. 

Court documents obtained by Westword claim Sanders “slammed his elbow into Darjean’s chest and continued to hit Darjean after he fell. Darjean was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.”

Darjean alleges he “sustained severe and permanent injuries, including a broken neck, damage to his cervical spine, permanent neurological injuries…

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Remember the days when you followed high school football recruiting? Breathlessly anticipating the same quotes from different players about how much they enjoyed their official visit and how the coaching staff made them feel like they were family. Remember anxiously awaiting the announcement of a commitment and then white-knuckling it until National Signing Day, hoping nothing changed before they signed on the dotted line?

Those days feel like a long time ago, don’t they? Well, they weren’t. It was only a few years ago, but it speaks to the impact of the transfer portal that it feels like The Stone Age. These days, we don’t spend nearly as much time worried about what a high school junior is doing; we’re far more interested in the disgruntled player looking for more playing time or the ascendant superstar looking to move up a level (both on the field and in the checking account).

Transfers dominate the sport now. Five of the last seven Heisman Trophy winners were transfers. Instead of waiting for the four-star sophomore to develop into a reliable starter, title contenders not named Clemson fill gaps in the roster through the portal. Sometimes, they find another ruby to stick on an already jewel-adorned, gold-plated crown.

The portal means you can turn things around in one offseason, making it one of the most important roster-building tools available. Every season, well-known faces show up in new places, and in top conferences like the Big Ten and SEC, there is never a shortage of big-name newcomers.

As we head into the summer, here’s a look at the Big Ten transfers poised to make the most significant impact in the 2024 season.

Michigan State isn’t considered a threat in the Big Ten after finishing 4-8 last year, but if there’s one…

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