Most impactful college football transfers to know in the 2026 season - RAW CHILI

Every offseason the transfer portal grabs all the attention in college football. The dust has since settled from the offseason and the actual season is nearing, with some attention never leaving some of the transfer portal’s biggest names.

Here are some transfers that you won’t want to miss in 2026.

Quarterbacks

Josh Hoover | Indiana from TCU
Sam Leavitt | LSU from Arizona State
Darian Mensah | Miami (FL) from Duke
Drew Mestemaker | Oklahoma State from North Texas

The last transfer quarterback at Indiana went undefeated, won the Heisman, won a national championship and went No. 1 overall in the NFL draft. The newest transfer quarterback is Josh Hoover. There might not be bigger shoes to fill from any transfer in the country.

Darian Mensah also has big shoes to fill after Carson Beck transferred in and led Miami to the CFP title game just one year after Cam Ward transferred in to become a Heisman finalist. Following those two — not counting the controversy surrounding his transfer — won’t be easy.

Sam Leavitt didn’t have controversy surrounding his transfer, with most of the controversy following his head coach Lane Kiffin joining LSU. However, Leavitt has already led a team to the College Football Playoff once before, so the expectations at a win-now program in Baton Rouge won’t be small.

Drew Mestemaker led the FBS in passing yards last year at North Texas. He followed his head coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 this offseason. The Cowboys went 1-11 last season. Mestemaker is trying to turn around the program as a star quarterback and follow up a standout season.

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Running back

Cam Cook | West Virginia from Jacksonville State
Makhi Hughes | Houston from Oregon
Dylan Edwards | Kansas from Kansas State

Cam Cook led the nation in rushing out of Jacksonville State in 2025. Cook averaged 5.9 yards per carry while playing for a CUSA team, but never topped 3.9 yards per carry when he started his career in the Big 12 at TCU. Now Cook is back in the Big 12 with West Virginia. Will he continue what he started with the Gamecocks or will he regress to his Horned Frog ways?

Cook isn’t the only running back here with multiple transfers as Makhi Hughes is also on his third school, now at Houston. Hughes starred at Tulane to open his career with consecutive seasons of over 1300 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in 2024. At Oregon in 2025, Hughes rushed for just 70 yards. Hughes’ time at Oregon was disappointing, but he has a chance to bounce back at Houston this fall.

Dylan Edwards is on a Big 12 tour in his career joining Kansas after starting at Colorado before spending the last two years at Kansas State. Yes, you read that right, Edwards joined in-state rival Kansas. The Sunflower Showdown will have an added element to it thanks to Edwards’ transfer, while he himself will look to finally live up to his potential.

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Wide Receiver

Oklahoma and Texas have one of the biggest rivalries in college football. Parker Livingstone knows this first hand after playing for the Longhorns last year. Now he’s with the Sooners in 2026. A rare cross-rival transfer which will bring plenty of smoke.

Texas replaced Livingstone with Cam Coleman from Auburn. Coleman has long shown potential of being one of the best receivers in the country, but has yet to crack 1,000 yards or 10 touchdowns. He joins a quarterback with plenty of potential in Arch Manning. If the Manning-Coleman duo lives up to the hype, Texas could reach places it hasn’t since 2005.

Nick Marsh also hasn’t broken the 1,000 yard or 10 touchdown threshold since bursting on the scene as a true freshman. He now joins Indiana from Michigan State after wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. had a breakout campaign that led to him being selected as a first round pick. He’s expected to replace Cooper and keep the reigning national champions near the top of the sport.

The final three receivers are also highly-touted transfers replacing NFL draft picks. Jordyn Tyson was the second receiver off the board in 2026 from Arizona State. In comes Reed Harris and Omarion Miller from Boston College and Colorado, respectively. Makai Lemon was the third receiver off the board while his Southern California teammate Ja’Kobi Lane went in the third round. In comes Terrell Anderson from NC State to help out Lincoln Riley’s offense. All three incoming transfers will be tasked with starting fast for programs coming off down years record wise.

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Offensive line

Jordan Seaton | LSU from Colorado
Jacarrius Peak | South Carolina from NC State

Offensive line is a hard position to judge so if they made this list, you know the expectations in 2026 are sky high. We’ll start with Jordan Seaton. The LSU offensive tackle heads to the SEC from Colorado. Seaton is no longer a big fish in the small pond that was Colorado’s poor offensive line play; he’s now a big fish in a big pond with the big boys of the SEC. Seaton is talented enough to be the first offensive lineman picked in the 2027 NFL draft, but he has to show he can take the next step in college first against better competition week-in and week-out.

Jacarrius Peak also has a lot to live up to in 2026 as plenty has changed since he initially signed with the Gamecocks. Peak, the No. 2 offensive tackle in the portal, signed with South Carolina to form one of the best tackle combinations in the country with Josiah Thompson. Thompson became one of the top in his class at his position back in 2024, but a lower-body injury this offseason has him out for the season.

Thompson’s injury is one factor, but Peak also got hurt before the season in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The injury has limited Peak during the offseason, but he’s expected to be ready in week one. That means the NC State transfer has to recover from injury, replace a top-tier starter, learn a new playbook and help South Carolina improve from a disappointing 4-8 finish last year. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is.

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Defensive line

Princewill Umanmielen | LSU from Ole Miss
Damon Wilson II | Miami (FL) from Missouri
Tawfiq Thomas | Georgia Tech from Colorado

New LSU head coach Lane Kiffin might’ve become the most hated man in Mississippi for a few weeks last December when he departed Ole Miss for LSU in the middle of a College Football Playoff run. After the Rebels were bounced from the playoffs, Princewill Umanmielen hit the portal to join his former coach across the SEC. Umanmielen was the top edge-rusher in the transfer portal per 247sports, and that alone brings pressure. The added bonus of leaving for an in-conference school will increase the expectations, especially when the two schools match up during the regular season.

Rueben Bain Jr. was a consensus All-American and the ACC Defensive Player of the year for Miami last year off the edge. Bain went on to be drafted in the first round and in came Damon Wilson II to replace him. It’s the second transfer in as many years for Wilson who started his career at Georgia before a breakout, nine-sack season at Missouri last year. Wilson not only has to build upon last season’s success, but he also has to make sure the Hurricane pass rush doesn’t miss a beat after it was the heartbeat of Miami’s run to the national championship game a year ago.

Tawfiq Thomas is a late addition to this list after transferring to Georgia Tech from Colorado. While he is not the level of player as most of the other players in this article appear by portal ranking or statistics, he might be under the most scrutiny from the start of the season.

That’s because Thomas posed in front of a sign showcasing Georgia Tech’s 27-20 win over Colorado last year. The only problem? Thomas was on the losing end of that game. It’s a weird flex from Thomas, so now he’ll have to perform with all eyes on him against his former team in Week 1 of 2026.

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Linebacker

TJ Dottery | LSU from Ole Miss
Austin Romaine | Texas Tech from Kansas State
Rasheem Biles | Texas from Pitt

Like Umanmielen, linebacker TJ Dottery followed coach Kiffin from Ole Miss to LSU. He’ll form one of the better linebacker tandems in the country alongside Whit Weeks — who had his own ties to Ole Miss last year while with the Tigers — and both will be tasked with leading the LSU defense as the Tigers aim for a playoff run.

Texas Tech made a playoff run of its own last year thanks to contributions from linebacker Jacob Rodriguez who finished fifth in Heisman voting. Rodriguez is in the NFL now and in comes Austin Romaine from Kansas State, the No. 2 linebacker in the transfer portal per 247Sports. Those are some big shoes to fill.

Rasheem Biles has been in debates for the best linebacker in the country in each of the last two seasons after putting up big numbers at Pitt. He’s shown he can tackle, cover and get after the quarterback, but now he’s at Texas in the SEC. SEC competition historically has been more challenging than the ACC, especially when it comes to the trenches and run game. Biles will have bigger moments and more ranked games in 2026, and that comes with increased expectations as a highly-touted transfer.

Cornerback

DJ McKinney | Notre Dame from Colorado
Rickey Gibson III | Texas A&M from Tennessee
A.J. Harris | Indiana from Penn State

Notre Dame has the best cornerback in the country in Leonard Moore, who might end up being a top-five selection in the 2027 NFL draft. Teams mostly have two cornerbacks on the field at almost all times, and that’s where Colorado transfer DJ McKinney steps in for the Fighting Irish. McKinney comes from the tutelage of Pro Football Hall of Famer-turned-head coach Deion Sanders, and now he’ll get to play defense for Marcus Freeman. After missing the College Football Playoff last year, expectations are playoff-or-bust in South Bend so McKinney will have no time to waste to live up to expectations as the No. 2 cornerback.

Rickey Gibson III joins Texas A&M from Tennessee after missing last season. A year off brings question marks, as does transferring to an in-conference school. Gibson is expected to contribute, but how quickly he returns to form remains a question mark.

A.J. Harris is on his third school in 2026 at Indiana, previously playing for Georgia and Penn State. Harris joins a secondary that lost D’Angelo Ponds at cornerback, a pivotal piece to Indiana’s national championship run. While Harris is his own player, it will be hard for him to avoid comparisons to the 2025 First-Team All-American while wearing a Hoosier jersey.

Safety

Koi Perich | Oregon from Minnesota
Terry Moore | Ohio State from Duke
Earl Little Jr. | Ohio State from Florida State

Two safeties were drafted in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft: Caleb Downs from Ohio State and Dillon Theineman from Oregon. Both the Buckeyes and the Ducks went portal shopping to replace them this offseason.

Oregon grabbed Koi Perich from Minnesota. It marks two straight years that the Ducks have grabbed a safety from a Big Ten school from the portal. The comparison is easy to make between Perich and Theineman. Moreover, Perich also played offense at times for Minnesota, only adding to the hype and expectations that will come for the Duck transfer.

Ohio State grabbed two safeties out of the portal to replace Downs, both from the ACC. Caleb Downs had an argument to be the best defensive player in college football in each of the last two seasons. That’s a lot to live up to if you’re Terry Moore and Earl Little Jr., especially for a team like Ohio State that didn’t make it out of the CFP quarterfinals last year.