Jamie Newman enters transfer portal: Predicting where Wake Forest QB lands

The transfer portal has a new option for teams to consider as Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman is the newest and best free agent on the market.

Teams in need of a starting quarterback for 2020 could be looking at Jamie Newman now that he has entered the transfer portal. The Wake Forest quarterback was one the best-kept secrets in college football after putting up big numbers for a surprisingly potent Wake Forest offense that was ranked midway through the season.

Now, Newman is looking for a new program to finish his college career before pursuing a career in the NFL after entering the transfer portal.

There should be no shortage of interest in the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder who completed 60.9 percent of his passes for 2,868 yards and 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He provided a dual-threat element too after running for 574 yards and six more scores in 12 games in 2019.

Newman likely will leave the ACC, although there are no restrictions on where he can transfer as a graduate transfer. He joins a list of quarterbacks in the transfer portal with starting experience, including Feleipe Franks (Florida), KJ Costello (Stanford) and Jett Duffey (Texas Tech). Newman is the best of the group and provides the most upside for a team looking to find a one-year starter.

Over the last few years anytime a high-profile quarterback entered the transfer portal or announced intentions to transfer, Oklahoma jumped to the forefront of the conversation after seeing transfers Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray win the Heisman and Jalen Hurts finish as the runner-up, all while leading the Sooners to the College Football Playoff.

Oklahoma can’t be dismissed for Newman, but they shouldn’t be considered the favorite to land him. The presence of five-star freshman Spencer Rattler and 2021 commit Brock Vandagriff, the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his class, Lincoln Riley’s team may pass on the transfer market this year.

Outside of Oklahoma, LSU just saw their transfer quarterback, Joe Burrow, win the Heisman Trophy after putting up record-breaking numbers en route to the National Championship Game. With Joe Brady reportedly close to inking an extension to stay at LSU, could Newman look to follow Burrow? It’s definitely an option depending on how much faith LSU has in Myles Brennan.

Washington, Miami, Michigan State, Purdue, and dozens of other programs would love to add a player like Newman to their roster, but the most intriguing option could be for Newman to go from the east coast to the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon will have an opening with Justin Herbert departing for the NFL where he’s expected to be a first round pick. The Ducks do have a deep depth chart at the position but it’s also a position where you never have too much depth. So while Oregon may have a lot of faith and confidence in redshirt freshman Tyler Shough, Newman is more of a sure thing.

According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, Oregon is the favorite for Newman. The risk in taking Newman for Oregon is they could lose Shough to the transfer portal. They may want to take Newman to give Shough another year of seasoning before handing him the keys to the offense. Should Shough then elect to transfer, he would have to sit out a year unless he gets a waiver through the NCAA, although after a year and a half of some waivers being accepted for frivolous reasons and serious waivers being denied, who knows if that will be worth sitting for a year if he was going to sit at Oregon anyway.

All of this to say, if Newman wants Oregon and Oregon wants Newman, then that’s Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal planting his flag and saying they are going full speed ahead for a College Football Playoff berth in 2020.

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