College football’s spring transfer portal window officially closed Friday, but not without a flurry of activity leading into, during and at the end of the window. There was high drama at Tennessee, which led to what amounted to a quarterback trade, impact players making moves and hundreds of players entering the portal in hopes of finding a new home.

Let’s recap some of the notable storylines from a busy April.

Quarterback carousel

The Nico Iamaleava saga consumed plenty of oxygen because of the unprecedented nature of his brief holdout amid a contract dispute. The former Tennessee quarterback, who helped lead the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff last year, hit the portal on the first day of the spring window and committed to UCLA days later. The quarterback transfer UCLA took during the winter portal window, former Appalachian State starter Joey Aguilar, suddenly needed a new home and found it at … Tennessee.

But there were other interesting quarterback moves this month.

South Alabama QB Gio Lopez to North Carolina: Bill Belichick’s first spring leading the Tar Heels left him looking for reinforcements at quarterback. Purdue transfer Ryan Browne, who joined the Tar Heels in January, re-entered the portal and returned to Purdue. True freshman Bryce Baker, a four-star recruit in UNC’s 2025 signing class, also enrolled in January. And Max Johnson, last year’s opening-night starter who has started at LSU and Texas A&M, is coming off a significant leg injury. Enter Lopez, who had a solid first season as a starter in 2024 at South Alabama. The former 2023 recruit threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns with five interceptions in 11 starts. Several Power 4 teams inquired about him this offseason, but the Tar Heels ultimately won out. To fill the void, South Alabama quickly pivoted and signed former Georgia Tech and Minnesota quarterback Zach Pyron.

Excited and grateful, go Heels!🐏 @UNCFootball pic.twitter.com/1qpdXxsHXa

— Gio Lopez 7️⃣ (@lopezgio1) April 18, 2025

Notre Dame QB Steve Angeli to Syracuse: Angeli’s arrival at Syracuse adds intrigue to the quarterback situation. Coach Fran Brown tabbed LSU transfer Rickie Collins as QB1 coming out of spring practice but needed another scholarship quarterback after Michael Johnson Jr., Kyle McCord’s backup in 2024, hit the portal. Angeli, who was competing for Notre Dame’s starting job, entered the portal a few days later and landed at Syracuse. With 21 career appearances, including one drive in last year’s Playoff semifinal, Angeli has a lot more experience than Collins, who has appeared in four games and taken 33 career snaps.

Iowa QB Brendan Sullivan to Tulane: The Green Wave took two transfers — Ball State’s Kadin Semonza and journeyman TJ Finley — in the winter window after their 2024 starter, Darian Mensah, transferred to Duke. But head coach Jon Sumrall was still in the quarterback market after spring practice. Finley, who was suspended from team activities after an arrest, hit the portal. Tulane assessed multiple options and ultimately signed Sullivan, who has started 11 Big Ten games over the past three seasons. Sullivan spent three seasons at Northwestern and transferred to Iowa last season, where he started three games, but the Hawkeyes have handed the 2025 keys to South Dakota State transfer Mark Gronowski.

UCF QB Dylan Rizk to Stanford: The Cardinal needed a quarterback, with Ashton Daniels (Auburn), Justin Lamson (Montana State) and Bear Bachmeier transferring out. Rizk is intriguing. He has three years of eligibility left and started the last four games of the 2024 season for UCF, including a Nov. 2 blowout of Arizona in which he threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 55 yards. He’ll be expected to compete for the starting job with Elijah Brown, Stanford’s 2024 four-star quarterback signee who appeared in three games and started one last year.

Texas State QB Gevani McCoy to Temple: McCoy was the most experienced quarterback to enter the portal in the spring window, with 31 career starts and 2,150 career snaps. He had a productive career in the FCS at Idaho and started last year at Oregon State, but he moved on after the Beavers took Duke transfer Maalik Murphy this winter. McCoy was one of three transfers to commit to Texas State, but he re-entered the portal this month. Temple needed a quarterback, and McCoy should be well positioned to become the Owls’ starter for first-year coach K.C. Keeler.

Georgia QB Jaden Rashada to Sacramento State: Rashada, who was at the center of an NIL contract saga with Florida in 2022, was looking for a place to play and may have found it. Rashada started as a true freshman at Arizona State in 2023, but an injury disrupted that season and he transferred to Georgia, where he was buried on the depth chart last year. First-time head coach Brennan Marion, a decorated offensive assistant and architect of the “Go Go Offense,” is looking to make a splash in his debut season at Sac State, and landing a former top-100 recruit created some buzz. Assuming Rashada wins the job, his progress will be fascinating to track. He needs the reps because he hasn’t taken a game snap since the 2023 season. The Hornets’ 2024 starter, Carson Conklin — a 2024 Jerry Rice Award finalist who threw for 2,876 yards and 28 touchdowns last year — entered the portal over the weekend after news of Rashada’s arrival broke. Sac State also signed former Tulsa transfer Cardell Williams in the winter, but Rashada should have ample opportunity to see the field.

Teams that made big movesTexas

The Longhorns have mastered the art of selectively utilizing the portal to fill needs, rather than living in it. Recruiting top-five classes annually certainly helps. Texas picked up five impact players in the spring window. Former Stanford receiver Emmett Mosley V, who tied for the team lead in touchdown catches, and Cal transfer tight end Jack Endries (91 receptions in the last two seasons) give Arch Manning two extra weapons to join DeAndre Moore and Ryan Wingo in the passing game. Two young defensive linemen, Maraad Watson (Syracuse) and Lavon Johnson (Maryland), help shore up the interior, where the Longhorns are losing multiple veterans. And kicker Mason Shipley, who was 31-of-35 on field goal attempts at Texas State, fills a need at kicker after Bert Auburn, who struggled late last season, entered the portal.

Oklahoma

New general manager Jim Nagy has wasted little time making an impact since his February arrival. The Sooners acquired one of the best running backs in the country, former Cal star Jaydn Ott, as a graduate transfer. Pairing Ott with Washington State quarterback transfer John Mateer, in former Wazzu coordinator Ben Arbuckle’s offense, has intriguing potential. The Sooners also had needs along the offensive line and landed Stanford transfer Jake Maikkula.

Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy and his staff were busy this spring, landing nine transfers thus far in the spring window. The Cowboys restocked at receiver with Marshall’s 2024 leading receiver, Christian Fitzpatrick, and a pair of Division II stars: Cam Abshire (Emory & Henry) and Terrill Davis (Central Oklahoma). They also acquired help along the offensive line (Markell Samuel, Appalachian State), at running back (Freddie Brock, Georgia State) and on the defensive line.

North Carolina

Belichick and GM Mike Lombardi were busy retooling the Tar Heels’ roster after more than 20 scholarship players hit the portal. In addition to landing their quarterback, they signed linebacker Mikai Gbayor, who started 15 games in the last two seasons at Nebraska; Penn State defensive end transfer Smith Vilbert, who has appeared in 34 games there; and four-star receiver recruit Adrian Wilson, who signed with Colorado but entered the portal this month.

Cal

The Bears had some big losses in Endries and Ott, as well as multiple other running backs, including Jaivian Thomas. But they’ve responded nicely by picking up quality players like Liberty edge rusher TJ Bush (9 1/2 tackles for loss in 2024), UTSA running back Brandon High (eight touchdowns in 2024) and speedy receiver Quaron Adams, who averaged 30.2 yards per catch last year at South Dakota.

QUARON ADAMS EXPLODES FOR 70 YARDS! 💥#FCSPlayoffs x 🎥 ESPN+ / @SDCoyotesFB pic.twitter.com/ygVnO3asfp

— NCAA FCS Football (@NCAA_FCS) December 7, 2024

Texas Tech

After making a splash in the winter window, the Red Raiders have made key additions in the spring as well, landing Stanford edge rusher David Bailey and Colorado offensive lineman Cash Cleveland. They also got back a player they lost in the winter: former five-star receiver Micah Hudson. In December, Hudson — the first five-star signee in school history — transferred to Texas A&M, but his stay in College Station was brief, and he returned to the portal this month. After a visit to Utah, Hudson wound up back in Lubbock. Before he transferred out, there was optimism about his future and his potential role at Tech in 2025 had he stayed. Can he get back on that track?

Houston

The Cougars have quietly had a nice offseason in the portal. They retooled their offense with winter additions at quarterback (Texas A&M transfer Conner Weigman), some experienced receivers and backs and a host of offensive linemen. This spring, they added former Ball State tight end Tanner Koziol, who caught 94 passes last year and had a brief stop at Wisconsin before re-entering the portal. They also landed FIU linebacker transfer Eddie Walls III, who led the team with five sacks and posted the highest pass-rushing grade in Conference USA last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Tulane linebacker Jesus Machado, who led the Green Wave with 98 tackles in 2023 for then-coach Willie Fritz, is rejoining his old coach in Houston this season after transferring in this month.

By the numbers

More than 1,100 FBS scholarship players entered the portal in the last month, an average of around eight players per team. To get a sense for the type of player that entered this spring, consider …

more than half (600-plus) appeared in fewer than 12 games in their career.
more than 80 percent (950-plus) started fewer than 10 career games.
nearly half (500-plus) had fewer than 100 career snaps.

Plenty of good players have entered the portal, but many are also looking for an opportunity because they didn’t have much of one at their previous school.

(Photo of Nico Iamaleava: Butch Dill / Getty Images)