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Transfer quarterbacks are having a profound effect on college football, especially in the two most powerful conferences in the sport, the Big Ten and SEC.
Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald noted in a recent column that six of seven Big Ten West programs will rely on transfer quarterbacks this season.
“Only Minnesota, embracing the Athan
Kaliakmanis era, will roll with a quarterback it recruited out of high school,”
McKewon wrote.
Additionally, transfer quarterbacks have been named starters or appear to have the inside edge in quarterback battles in the SEC, including at Alabama (Tyler
Buchner), Kentucky (Devin Leary), Auburn (Payton Thorne) and Florida (Graham
Mertz). Transfer quarterbacks are already in place as starters at LSU (Jayden
Daniels), Ole Miss (Jaxson Dart) and Tennessee (Joe Milton).
Transfer QBs could also have a huge impact on the next NFL Draft.
Pro Football Focus recently released its top 10 2024 draft-eligible quarterbacks. Seven—Caleb Williams (USC), Michael
Penix Jr. (Washington), Quinn Ewers (Texas), Sam Hartman (Notre Dame), Bo Nix (Oregon State), Milton and Daniels —find
themselves at a school different than their initial college choice.
High-profile, successful quarterback
transfers such as Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields, Baker Mayfield and Will
Levis—to name a few—provided the blueprint for transferring and subsequently landing
in the NFL.
Even Northern Iowa quarterback Theo Day,
who transferred from Michigan State, put himself in the 2024 NFL Draft
discussion despite transferring down from FBS to FCS with a strong second
season at UNI.
The sheer volume of transfer quarterbacks
in starting jobs and at the top of draft discussions answers the question of
whether the transfer portal deemphasized the importance of an initial college
choice for quarterbacks or not.
It absolutely has.
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