{"id":651928,"date":"2026-01-04T00:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/651928\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T00:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:07:14","slug":"transfer-portal-rankings-top-25-players-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/651928\/","title":{"rendered":"Transfer Portal Rankings: Top 25 Players to Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a ton of talent inside the NCAA Transfer Portal<\/a> at the moment. In this article, we\u2019ll take a look at the Top 25 Players to Watch, courtesy of On3\u2019s Transfer Portal Rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From coveted quarterbacks to play-makers on both sides of the football, there\u2019s something for every team available at the moment. Now, if you don\u2019t have the NIL<\/a> or coaching staff able to convince players that your team is the right fit, it won\u2019t matter much. <\/p>\n

Regardless, there\u2019s plenty of window shopping to be done before players commit to their next team in the portal. Check out the Top 25 below, and see if there\u2019s a target available that can help your favorite team out.<\/p>\n

Leading us off is wide receiver\u00a0Cam Coleman<\/a>. He came to The Plains as one of the highest-rated recruits in recent Auburn history. Afterwards, the pass-catcher largely lived up to that billing.\u00a0Across two seasons, he hauled in 84 passes for 1,215 yards and 12 touchdowns. <\/p>\n

The Alabama native did that despite the Tigers\u2019 massive struggles in the passing game under Hugh Freeze. Auburn\u2019s new staff under Alex Golesh worked hard to keep him from entering the portal, but he ultimately hit free agency, where he\u2019ll be a top commodity. <\/p>\n

\"Sam(Mark J. Rebilas)<\/p>\n

The top quarterback in the portal is Leavitt. Last season, he appeared in seven games before a lingering foot injury prompted him to have season-ending surgery on Oct. 31. He completed 145-239 passes for 1,628 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions, adding 73 carries for 306 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. <\/p>\n

Leavitt announced he\u2019d enter the transfer portal in mid-December, so teams have done their homework. The redshirt sophomore will have two years of eligibility remaining, and he\u2019s widely considered QB1 across the nation. <\/p>\n

Coleman played in nine games this season for the Nittany Lions. In that stretch, he recorded eight tackles, three TFL, one sack, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.<\/p>\n

Prior to enrolling at\u00a0Penn State,\u00a0Coleman was ranked as a four-star prospect and the No. 203 overall player in the\u00a02025 class<\/a>. Some team will get a premium defender with some untapped potential this offseason.<\/p>\n

A former walk-on, Mestemaker played in five games as a freshman, including a standout showing in UNT\u2019s bowl game, before taking over the starting role as a redshirt freshman this fall. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder set the college football world on fire with his second act. <\/p>\n

He completed 70.2% of his passes while throwing leading the FBS in passing with 4,129 yards in 12 games. On top of that, he threw for 31 touchdowns to just seven interceptions and was named the American Athletic Conference\u2019s offensive player of the year.\u00a0No shortage of suitors for this quarterback.<\/p>\n

\"GregJordan Prather-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Brown excelled for the Cardinals across two seasons, rushing for 2,057 yards and 18 touchdowns. He immediately became one of the most prized running backs in the entire Transfer Portal when he entered his name.<\/p>\n

This past season, Brown remained one of the strongest running backs in the ACC. He rushed for 884 yards and seven touchdowns in nine games. He missed the final four games of the regular season with an injury, but rushed for 102 yards and two scores in\u00a0Louisville\u2018s 27-22 win over\u00a0Toledo\u00a0in the Boca Raton Bowl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the 2025 season, Daley starred along the edge during the first 11 games of the year before sustaining an injury against Kansas State. He finished the season with 48 tackles, including 17.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks.<\/p>\n

Before going down with his injury, Daley was tied for the FBS lead in tackles for loss. He was also ranked second in the country in sacks. Those 11.5 sacks accounted for 91 total yards lost for opposing offenses, tying for fifth on the Utah single-season leaderboard.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Sorsby went 207-of-336 passing for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns, against just five interceptions. He was also a dual-threat option, rushing for 580 yards and nine touchdowns while averaging a career-high 5.8 yards per carry.<\/p>\n

During his career across those four years, Sorsby has logged 7,208 passing yards and 60 touchdowns, against 18 interceptions. He has also run for 1,305 yards and 22 scores. One of the more interesting prospects available.<\/p>\n

\"Caleb\u00a9 Danny Wild-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Like his quarterback, Hawkins had a breakout freshman season for the Mean Green in 2025. He took 200 carries for 1,236 yards and 23 touchdowns while helping North Texas to an 11-2 record. <\/p>\n

The highly-productive running back scored three or more touchdowns in five different games, including 16 touchdowns during the month of November. Hawkins also logged five games rushing for at least 100 yards. <\/p>\n

Ibirogba just wrapped up his redshirt junior season, meaning he is expected to have one year of eligibility remaining.\u00a0In 12 games, Ibirogba recorded 21 tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss. Solid numbers.<\/p>\n

He added two sacks and had three quarterback hurries when rushing the passer. You even find a blocked kick in the Nov. 15 showdown against the\u00a0North Carolina Tar Heels<\/a>. He can do a lot of things well for a team.<\/p>\n

Brown has spent the last four years, including a redshirt year to start, at USF. That gives him one year of eligibility left to use elsewhere. In his career in Tampa, Brown has appeared in 35 games for the Bulls. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s been one of the nation\u2019s most productive quarterbacks in that time, posting a 64.8% completion for 219.7 passing yards per game with 61 touchdowns and 19 interceptions while rushing for 64.7 yards per game and 31 more scores, bringing him to 284.4 total yards per game with 92 touchdowns overall and 31 turnovers.<\/p>\n

11) EDGE Jayden Woods<\/a>
12) QB Dylan Raiola<\/a>
13) S Koi Perich<\/a>
14) CB Jontez Williams<\/a>
15) QB Josh Hoover<\/a>
16) LB Rasheem Biles<\/a>
17) QB DJ Lagway<\/a>
18) WR Omarion Miller<\/a>
19) OT Lance Heard<\/a>
20) IOL Carius Curne<\/a>
21) EDGE Wendell Gregory<\/a>
22) WR Nick Marsh<\/a>
23) RB Hollywood Smothers<\/a>
24) WR Terrell Anderson<\/a>
25) QB Deuce Knight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a ton of talent inside the NCAA Transfer Portal at the moment. In this article, we\u2019ll take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[40822,75538,75027,5979,57356,54290,5982,79480,5983,7,22682,57100,90223,39379,34436,89712,49,48,5992],"class_list":["post-651928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-brendan-sorsby-22-lake-dallas","tag-byrum-brown-22-rolesville","tag-caleb-hawkins-25-north-rock-creek","tag-cam-coleman-24-central","tag-chaz-coleman-25-warren-g-harding","tag-deuce-knight-25-george-county","tag-dj-lagway-24-willis","tag-drew-mestemaker-24-vandegrift","tag-dylan-raiola-24-buford","tag-football","tag-isaac-brown-24-homestead","tag-jayden-woods-25-mill-valley","tag-john-henry-daley-21-lone-peak","tag-josh-hoover-22-rockwall-heath","tag-koi-perich-24-lincoln-secondary","tag-mateen-ibirogba","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-sam-leavitt-23-west-linn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}