Welcome to the 2025 College Football season, where the transfer portal is more important than ever if your team hopes to capture glory.
Who are the names to know in 2025 that will decide the fate of their respective teams and conferences?
Here are the Top 10 transfers who will swing games this season, for better or worse.
QB John Mateer, Oklahoma
After two 6-7 seasons in his first three years in Norman, Brent Venables rests his future on quarterback John Mateer.
The dual-threat took the college football world by storm last season with nearly 4,000 total yards and 44 total touchdowns for Washington State.
He did struggle when stepping up in competition, however, so how he adapts to an SEC schedule could swing things in the national picture because the Oklahoma Sooners appear to have an elite defense. They could be a serious threat if it finally clicks for Venables.
That’s considered a long shot as Oklahoma is +2200 to win the SEC at FanDuel Sportsbook, but Mateer benefits from retaining his offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, who is considered a rising star in the coaching world.
QB Carson Beck, Miami
The Miami Hurricanes are going back to the well by taking another high-end transfer portal quarterback after the Cam Ward hit a year ago.
Carson Beck notoriously threw too many interceptions (12) and underachieved in 2024, but he was regarded as a Heisman frontrunner last offseason and will work behind an elite offensive line.
The sixth-year senior has the sixth-shortest odds to win the Heisman (+1800) at FanDuel Sportsbook. Reports from camp are that he looks fully recovered from offseason elbow surgery. He’ll be thrown into the fire with a Week 1 matchup against Notre Dame.
QB Devon Dampier, Utah
Devon Dampier could be important to the Big 12 race than any other player, but he certainly earns the nod as the most important transfer in the conference.
Similarly to Mateer, he lit up the box score at a lower level (New Mexico) and came over with his offensive coordinator (Jason Beck).
The Utah Utes have been mired in quarterback hell lately, but Kyle Whittingham hopes that he’s found the fix with the elusive Dampier, who rushed for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Lobos a season ago.
LB David Bailey, Texas Tech
The first defensive player named on this list, David Bailey, is a name to know from the Texas Tech Red Raiders’ stacked transfer haul. Tech had poured immense amounts of resources into making its roster a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12.
They haven’t seemed to figure out how to consistently play stout defense in Lubbock in quite some time, but Bailey was a force off the edge at Stanford and changes the calculus for opposing offenses.
For Joey McGuire to break through, Bailey and fellow transfer Lee Hunter will need to dominate the line of scrimmage.
S Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
The Oregon Ducks will need their top-5 transfer class to live up to its billing to avoid a letdown after finishing with a perfect record in the regular season a year ago.
The offense has been good in Eugene for a long time, but there are significant questions with an unproven quarterback (Dante Moore), a brand new offensive line, and a receiving corps that lost its forecasted top option (Evan Stewart) to injury.
That puts the onus on the defense, where Dillon Thieneman, a two-year star at Purdue, has to play up to his reputation for Oregon to remain a Big Ten contender.
QB Jackson Arnold, Auburn
There are a lot of different ways this season could go for Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers. He’s had back-to-back losing seasons, which won’t fly at a program like Auburn, but the underlying metrics say that the Tigers were a quality team.
They finished 20th in EPA per play on defense and 37th on defense, but couldn’t put a stamp on games due to mistakes and turnovers. Jackson Arnold enters from Oklahoma as a former five-star with massive questions after disappointing for Oklahoma a year ago.
How much of those troubles were due to terrible OL and WR play? We’re about to find out, and the results will swing Auburn’s season, starting with an enticing Week 1 date with Baylor.
WR Dane Key, Nebraska
The Nebraska Cornhuskers are emerging as a trendy darkhorse contender for the College Football Playoff, according to several talking heads.
They’re listed at +680 to make the playoffs at FanDuel Sportsbook, so it’d be a long shot. The offense is expected to take a big step forward with quarterback Dylan Raiola in his second year and Dana Holgorsen calling the plays, and it’ll need to after the Huskers finished just 129th in explosive plays.
For them to emerge as a contender, Dane Key needs to emerge as a bonafide receiving threat after racking up 1,870 yards and 14 touchdowns in his career at Kentucky.
CB Mansoor Delane, LSU
I waffled between Mansoor Delane and Miami’s Xavier Lucas for this spot as both are burdened with a similar task in 2025 — help fix defenses that have held back potent offensive teams from achieving their true talent potential.
Delane may not be the headliner of the LSU Tigers’ top-ranked transfer class, but he earns the inclusion as he may be most integral to their success. You know that Garrett Nussmeier and the offense will be clicking, but it’s the other side of the ball that has kept the Brian Kelly era from truly taking off.
Delane, a three-year starter at Virginia Tech, brings experience to a backend that finished 83rd in passing success rate allowed last year. Reports from Fall Camp were that he’d stepped into a starting corner spot, and now he has to perform at a high level every week.
WR Trebor Pena, Penn State
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the No. 2 team in the AP Poll and have high hopes after retaining key talent across the team. One remaining question is whether the wide receiving room can make a difference.
Having the wideouts finish with 0 combined catches in a three-point playoff loss to Notre Dame is simply unacceptable. They’re overwhelmingly expected to return to the playoffs (-310 at FanDuel Sportsbook), and will likely need better play from their wideouts to induce a different result.
James Franklin brought in several transfers to break the curse at the position, and Trebor Pena (Syracuse) is the biggest name after leading the ACC in receptions (84) in 2024.
QB Mark Gronowski, Iowa
Speaking of breaking curses, do the Iowa Hawkeyes finally have a quarterback?
Mark Gronowski provides the best chances of answering “yes” to that question of any Iowa quarterback in quite some time after accumulating 12,075 total yards and 130 total touchdowns in his career at South Dakota State.
Sure, that’s at the FCS level, but the Jackrabbits would beat many Group of 5 FBS teams, and Gronowski has proven to be an effective leader of good, winning football teams.
He’ll be the difference in whether or not Iowa can emerge from a crowded Big Ten middle class.
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
