The college football transfer portal opens April 16 for its spring window, and with teams wrapping up spring practices over the coming weeks, there figures to be a significant amount of roster movement in the final transfer opportunity before the 2024 season. While the most impactful players typically enter the portal during the winter window, there is a strong chance a few big names will hit the open market during the upcoming two-week stretch.
The 2024 transfer cycle got off to a hectic start early in the offseason when some of the biggest names in college football elected to seek new homes. The Alabama trio of Caleb Downs, Isaiah Bond and Julian Sayin are among the group of five-star transfers who stunned the college football world when they left the Crimson Tide.
Each of those three Alabama defectors rank among the highest-rated players to ever enter the portal. The transfer portal launched in 2018 and picked up steam with each passing year to the point where star players now move from school to school at an alarming rate.
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Here are the 14 highest-rated transfers of the portal era:
Transfer Rating (2024): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 6 Overall | No. 1 QB
Julian Sayin is a rare example of a college football player who entered the transfer portal before his freshman season. The five-star recruit and No. 3 quarterback in the 2024 class enrolled early at Alabama but elected to leave the program when Nick Saban retired, committing shortly thereafter to Ohio State. Sayin was among the early Ohio State newcomers to have his black stripe removed, and despite his up-and-down start to spring practice, he could emerge as the Buckeyes’ No. 2 quarterback and the program’s potential signal-caller of the future.
Transfer Rating (2024): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 5 Overall | No. 2 WR
Former five-star recruit Evan Stewart ranked as the No. 6 overall prospect and No. 1 wide receiver in the 2022 class but has yet to reach the sky-high potential that followed him to the college game. He dealt with inconsistent quarterback play and injuries of his own during two seasons at Texas A&M and caught 38 passes for 514 yards and four touchdowns across eight games last year. Now in an Oregon offensive system that produced a Heisman Trophy finalist at quarterback last season, Stewart could be in for a breakthrough. He already made an impression on the Ducks in spring practice.
Transfer Rating (2022): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 5 Overall | No. 1 CB
Former five-star recruit Eli Ricks struggled at LSU during the 2021 season, but he retained upside upon transferring to Alabama with the idea that Nick Saban could rekindle the magic he showed as a true freshman, posting four interceptions in his debut 2020 campaign. That bounce-back never quite materialized after Ricks started his Alabama career with an offseason arrest and battled injuries throughout the year. Still, he landed on an NFL roster when the Philadelphia Eagles picked him up as an undrafted free agent, and he made an instant impact last season as a rooke with 19 tackles and three pass breakups.
Transfer Rating (2022): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 4 Overall | No. 1 RB
After two strong seasons at Georgia Tech, Jahmyr Gibbs transferred to Alabama and exploded for the best season of his collegiate career. The all-purpose back ran 151 times for 926 yards and seven touchdowns while adding 44 receptions for 444 yards and three scores en route to second-team All-SEC honors during the 2022 season. Gibbs backed up his stellar tape at the NFL Combine when he ran a blazing 4.36-second 40-yard dash, and that performance helped him become the No. 12 overall selection at the 2023 NFL Draft. He had a big rookie year with the Detroit Lions and earned a Pro Bowl invitation.
Transfer Rating (2024): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 4 Overall | No. 1 WR
Isaiah Bond was the first Alabama player to hit the transfer portal when Saban announced his retirement. The 2023 sophomore finished his second year in Tuscaloosa with 48 catches for 668 yards and four touchdowns and was on the receiving end of the unforgettable 4th-and-31 touchdown pass in Alabama’s thrilling Iron Bowl win over Auburn. Bond now settles into a Texas offense that could lead the nation in scoring if it reaches its highest potential, and he figures to be the focal point of that passing attack.
Transfer Rating (2022): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 3 Overall | No. 1 WR
Jordan Addison took the college football world by storm in 2021, when he caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver. His subsequent transfer from Pittsburgh to USC, where he paired up with Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley, was an equally stunning development in his tremendous career. He paced the Trojans in three receiving categories during his line year in Los Angeles, racking up 59 catches, 875 yards and eight touchdowns despite missing three games due to injury. Addison certified himself as a first-round NFL Draft pick and turned in a huge 10-touchdown rookie year with the Minnesota Vikings.
Transfer Rating (2023): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 3 Overall | No. 1 WR
After winning back-to-back national championships at Georgia in 2021 and 2022 — and catching a touchdown in all four of the Bulldogs’ College Football Playoff games — Adonai Mitchell elected to move closer to his daughter and transferred to Texas. The move paid off on the football field, as he starred on another CFP team with his 55 receptions, 845 yards and 11 touchdowns. Mitchell kept his postseason scoring streak alive when he logged a one-yard touchdown catch in the Longhorns’ semifinal loss to Washington.
Transfer Rating (2023): 5-Star | 98 Rating | No. 2 Overall | No. 2 CB
Denver Harris was one of numerous transfers into the LSU secondary ahead of the 2023 season and offered tremendous promise to the Tigers’ reeling defensive backfield as the No. 2 overall player in his transfer cycle. He made three starts at LSU and appeared in five total games before missing the final seven contests for undisclosed reasons. Harris was also suspended twice at Texas A&M and was involved in an altercation at an LSU practice ahead of his first and only season with the Tigers. He re-entered the portal at the conclusion of his forgettable campaign in Baton Rouge and landed earlier this offseason at UTSA, this time as the No. 150 overall transfer.
Transfer Rating (2024): 5-Star | 99 Rating | No. 3 Overall | No. 1 DL
Walter Nolen headlined Texas A&M’s historic 2022 recruiting class, and he was far from the first player in that haul to depart from the program when he hit the portal this offseason. The former five-star prospect and No. 1 overall recruit played in 22 games and made 14 starts across two seasons with the Aggies, recording 66 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss and five sacks. He also notched a pass breakup, forced fumble and fumble recovery. Nolen is the crown jewel of Ole Miss’ top-ranked transfer class.
Transfer Rating (2024): 5-Star | 99 Rating | No. 2 Overall | No. 1 OT
Kadyn Proctor is not the first player to experience a change of heart upon hitting the transfer portal, but he is certainly the highest-profile prospect to do so. The former five-star recruit landed the starting left tackle job at Alabama as a true freshman last season and improved as the season progressed, establishing himself as a five-star transfer when he departed from the program amid the Crimson Tide’s coaching change. After less than two months at Iowa, though, Proctor is set to re-enter the portal and return to Alabama.
Transfer Rating (2024): 5-Star | 99 Rating | No. 1 Overall | No. 1 S
Caleb Downs grabbed headlines in the wake of Saban’s retirement when he announced his intentions to leave Alabama. The former five-star signee was touted at the time as a “million-dollar plus” player after his terrific freshman season in Tuscaloosa. Downs finished his explosive first year of college football with a team-high 107 tackles to go with 3.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions. He earned a spot on the 247Sports True Freshman All-American Team as one of the sport’s best overall safeties. Downs will be a day-one starter at Ohio State.
Transfer Rating (2023): 5-Star | 99 Rating | No. 1 Overall | No. 1 CB
While a lacerated liver limited Travis Hunter to nine games in 2023, last offseason’s highest-profile transfers still made a big splash in his first season at Colorado. The anomaly of an athlete starred on both sides of the ball and further asserted himself as an elite 2025 NFL Draft prospect with his strong play at wide receiver and cornerback. Hunter racked up 50 tackles and three interceptions on defense and caught 57 passes for 721 yards and five touchdowns on offense, averaging a mind-boggling 116 total snaps per game.
Transfer Rating (2022): 5-Star | 100 Rating | No. 2 Overall | No. 2 QB
Quinn Ewers projected as a future first-round NFL Draft pick dating all the way back to his high school career, and he finally rounded into form last season during his second year at Texas. The former No. 1 overall prospect in the 2021 recruiting class initially signed with Ohio State but elected to continue his development closer to home at Texas, where he experienced a turbulent first season but flourished last fall. Ewers is now a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate after he racked up 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions en route to the College Football Playoff in 2023.
Transfer Rating (2022): 5-Star | 100 Rating | No. 1 Overall | No. 1 QB
Caleb Williams is the only transfer in the portal era to win the Heisman Trophy and is the overwhelming favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams racked up 4,537 passing yards and 42 touchdowns with just five interceptions throughout a historic first campaign with the Trojans and added another 10 scores on the ground. While he fell short of repeating as the Heisman Trophy winner last season, he still registered 3,633 yards and 30 touchdowns through the air, finishing the campaign as the nation’s seventh-leading passer on a per-game basis.
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