10 best transfer portal additions that will shape the 2023 college football season
By John Buhler
Look for these 10 college football stars to shine immediately upon transferring to new teams.
It is not just about winning on National Signing Day in college football; you have to win in the transfer portal as well.
With the dawn of NIL and collectives, the transfer portal has become the rough equivalent of free agency in college football. Whether a player wants to get more playing time, go to a better team or wants to follow a certain coach, for whatever reason, into the portal they went. Although this is more of a complementary way of building a team, the portal is utterly fascinating nevertheless.
Here are the 10 best additions any college football team made in the transfer portal this winter.
College football: 10 best additions any program made with the transfer portal
Hudson Card can provide stability at quarterback for new coach Ryan Walters
It may not have worked out for him at Texas, but Purdue is an excellent landing spot for quarterback Hudson Card. Although the Boilermakers will have to adjust to life without Jeff Brohm and Aidan O’Connell, there is a lot to like about the Ryan Walters hire at head coach. Bret Bielema’s star defensive coordinator left Illinois in division to get his own team in West Lafayette.
Much of what made Purdue the Spoilermakers under Brohm will remain while Walters puts in his own identity on the program. Card goes from a more chaotic environment in Austin to a reigning division champion in Purdue. Although he could get lost in the top half of the conference, this was not a bad landing spot for Card at all. We might be able to see him get the reps he probably earned.
As long as Purdue has competent quarterback play, they should remain a quality Big Ten program.
Davison Igbinosun could be a huge boost needed in the Ohio State secondary
One could argue Ohio State was only a few plays away from winning a second College Football Playoff national championship. Too bad close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. One area where the Buckeyes need to get better is in the back-end of their defense. It is why getting cornerback Davison Igbinosun transferring over from Ole Miss is such a big deal for the program.
We are talking about an SEC West cornerback coming over to the Big Ten East. Ohio State may be a better program across the board over Ole Miss, but one would think Lane Kiffin has gotten more out of less of late than Ryan Day has. Either way, Igbinosun has the potential to really take Jim Knowles’ defense up a notch in year two as its coordinator. There is certainly a lot of upside here.
Ohio State is on a shortlist of teams who can realistically make the final four-team playoff in 2023.