Five biggest losers from the college football transfer portal thus far
The surge in transfers thanks to the one-time transfer rule has changed the game of college football forever.
We have never witnessed the amount of player movement that we are experiencing now, and while some teams are able to take advantage of the portal and maximize their roster, others are not experiencing that same success.
For every team that is able to add talent like Joe Burrow, Justin Fields, or Kenneth Walker to their team from the portal, there is always a team losing a key player like Caleb Williams after a coaching change, or Cameron Ward who left to go to a bigger program.
Some schools like USC, Alabama, and even Texas have really mastered their plan of attack on how to bolster their roster via the transfer portal, but other schools are being absolutely decimated by players leaving.
Here are the schools that have been hit the hardest, and are currently the biggest losers of the transfer portal this offseason.
Hawaii
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Hawaii was likely one of the programs hit the hardest by the transfer portal, losing 19 players via transfer including quarterback Chevan Cordeiro (San Jose State) and defensive lineman Jordan La’ulu (Oklahoma).
The Todd Graham era ended in only what could be considered a dumpster fire. While they have added a couple players like Washington State transfer and former four-star quarterback Cammon Cooper, losing this many players while only bringing in eight recruits will be tough for new coach Timmy Chang to overcome.
Louisiana
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Similar to Hawaii, Louisiana is also experiencing a large amount of players leaving, the only difference being because their head coach was hired at a better job. After the Billy Napier departure, multiple players followed, and after the success that this team has had over the past few years there are also players who transferred elsewhere to play at a bigger program.
In total they are losing 11 players, with majority of them being key contributors like offensive linemen Kamryn Waites and O’Cyrus Torrence who both followed Napier to Florida. New head coach Michael Desormeaux is inheriting a team that lost a ton of talent, and so far has only added one transfer via the portal, meaning he will have to hit the portal much harder or cut his losses and work with what he has.
Virginia
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Another school that lost its head coach, Virginia also lost a ton of depth, losing six offensive linemen including Victor Oluwatimi (Michigan) who was among the nation’s best at his position. In total they have lost 20 players to the portal, factor in the fact they hold what is currently the No. 76 class for 2022, Tony Elliot is certainly working uphill in this scenario.
Oregon
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The departure of Mario Cristobal has also led to the departure of multiple key players like running back Travis Dye (USC), wide receiver Mycah Pittman (Florida State), and DJ James (Auburn). They also lost multiple players to the NFL in quarterback Anthony Brown, defensive linemen Kayvon Thibodeaux, and running back CJ Verdell.
Dan Lanning has been able to secure some transfers, but the Ducks have been hit hard by players leaving especially at the running back position where they have lost a total of four running backs to the portal.
Oklahoma
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While Brent Venables and Oklahoma have made a fantastic recovery adding talent back with players like quarterback Dillon Gabriel (UCF) and defensive back Trey Morrison (UNC), they lost a ton of important pieces to the portal.
For starters, they lost what could be the best quarterback in the nation in Caleb Williams, who is expected to follow Lincoln Riley to USC. They also lost their other talented quarterback Spencer Rattler (South Carolina), and multiple key pass catchers in Austin Stogner (South Carolina), Jadon Haselwood (Arkansas), and Mario Williams (USC). For a program that has been among the nation’s elite for the past decade, losing this of talent surely hurts.
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