College football rankings: Power ranking the 10 best transfer portal adds so far
With Christmas now officially in the rearview mirror, the dust has finally begun to settle from a frenetic opening stretch of transfer season. A record number of players have put their name in the portal since it opened over three weeks ago, more than 2,000 in all at the FBS level, and while plenty of big names still remain uncommitted, we've already seen a flurry of commitments that figure to totally reshape the landscape of college football next season.
There's still time and talent left for programs to make a splash, portal classes have begun to come into focus. Which schools should be feeling the best entering the new year? Here are the 10 best transfer signings so far.
10. WR Micah Hudson, Texas A&M
Big things were expected of Hudson when he arrived in Lubbock as the Red Raiders' highest-ranked recruit in program history. But between a loaded receiver room and some nagging injuries, the five-star never quite took off in Zach Kittley's offense, catching just eight passes for 123 yards in his freshman season.
Make no mistake, though: When healthy, Hudson has shown some serious flashes.
Texas A&M's offense fell victim to a lack of true downfield ball-winners in Collin Klein's debut season, making life more difficult for Marcel Reed and the run game. Mike Elko and Co. desperately need to give their receiver room a shot in the arm, and Hudson does just that, with at least two more years in college to boot.
9. WR Dane Key, Nebraska
Speaking of programs that needed some help on the outside. Dylan Raiola emphatically shot down any speculation that he was thinking of leaving Lincoln this winter, and head coach Matt Rhule paid off that faith with some major wins in the transfer portal. Poaching five-star defensive end Williams Nwaneri from Missouri was huge, but the biggest upgrade Rhule made came at wideout, where he was able to bring in Key from Kentucky.
The Wildcats' passing game was up-and-down this season amid injuries and inconsistency from Brock Vandagriff, but Key looked the part of a true No. 1, catching 47 passes for 715 yards — including a 100-yard game in the shocking upset of Ole Miss back in September. He's got prototypical size and great ball skills, and he should become Raiola's best friend in what should be a much-improved Nebraska offense under Dana Holgorsen next season.
8. OTs Phillip Daniels and Ethan Onianwa, Ohio State
Of the many, many things Ohio State fans have criticized Ryan Day for over the past few seasons, it's been his neglect of the offensive line. With Donovan Jackson and Josh Fryar set to head for the draft and not a ton of talent behind them — the Buckeyes' 2025 recruiting class features just one four- or five-star lineman — finding immediate solutions in the portal was a must if Ohio State wanted to finally snap their losing streak to Michigan and get back to the top of the Big Ten.
Luckily enough, Day has done just that, finding two players who profile as legitimate starting tackles at the Power 4 level. An Ohio native, Daniels was overlooked by the Buckeyes out of high school, but he started four games for Minnesota at right tackle this season and more than held his own. Onianwa, meanwhile, drew interest from Texas A&M, Florida State and others after three years as a starter at Rice. They may not be superstars, but they'll do a lot to raise the floor of Ohio State's offensive line next season, patching up arguably the biggest hole for a national title contender.
7. WR Eric Singleton, Auburn
QBs Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels drew most of the headlines during Auburn's transfer portal spending spree, but you could argue that the most talented addition Hugh Freeze was able to land is Singleton. A two-year starter at Georgia Tech, Singleton developed into a dynamic all-around threat out of the slot, last seen putting 100 total yards (86 receiving, 14 rushing) on Georgia in the Yellow Jackets' 8-OT loss a few weeks ago.
Both Arnold and Daniels bring a lot of athletic upside to the table, but neither are particularly polished passers. They're going to need a lot of help from their receivers, in other words, especially after the catch, and Singleton is one of the most dangerous open-field players in the portal this winter. With Cam Coleman on the outside and a fleet of young blue-chippers behind him, Freeze should have everything he needs to finally produce a great offense on the Plains.
6. DT Jehiem Oatis, Colorado
While offensive skill players are reliably available in the transfer portal, true defensive difference-makers are harder to come by, especially in the trenches. Which is what makes Oatis such a coup: the former four-star was one of the only battle-tested defensive tackles available, and he should help Deion Sanders continue to build in Boulder after the departure of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter.
With those two off to the NFL next spring, building Colorado's depth on both lines of scrimmage will become even more important, and Oatis should have an instant impact up front. Oatis started 13 games across 2022 and 2023, but injuries hampered him in his first offseason under Kalen DeBoer, and after playing sparingly across Alabama's first four games of 2024, he opted to sit out the rest of the season and preserve another year of eligibility.
5. QB Fernando Mendoza, Indiana
Curt Cignetti turned the Hoosiers into College Football Playoff contenders almost overnight thanks to a transfer portal overhaul, highlighted by former Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke. But the downside to the transfer treadmill is that once you get on it, it's awfully hard to get off; and sure enough, Indiana needed to find another solution at quarterback with Rourke out of eligibility following a sensational 2024 season.
Cignetti did just that, poaching Mendoza from Georgia in an impressive display of recruiting (and NIL) strength. Mendoza was up and down at times over two years starting for Cal, but he also didn't have the strongest infrastructure around him, and he showed more than enough talent with both his arm and his legs to prove himself as an upper-level Power 4 starter. He completed nearly 69 percent of his passes with over 3,000 yards this season, and he's an ideal fit for Kyle Shanahan's RPO-heavy system.
4. EDGE Princewill Umanmielen and OT Patrick Kutas, Ole Miss
Sure, this is technically cheating, but we're including both Umanmielen and Kutas here because they're two sides of the same coin for Ole Miss. This season may not have ended the way that Lane Kiffin wanted, but it was still a step forward, highlighted by a program-defining win over Georgia in which the Rebels physically bullied the Dawgs for 60 minutes.
For years, that was the book on Ole Miss: flashy and fun in September, but not tough enough up front to survive the SEC meat-grinder. Kiffin managed to flip that script a bit this season, and he's determined to do even better in 2025, highlighted by big transfer wins on both lines of scrimmage. Umanmielen is following in the footsteps of his brother Princely, who transferred to Ole Miss in 2024 and blossomed into one of the best pass-rushers in the conference, while Kutas showed major upside when he was healthy and on the field for Arkansas this season.
3. S Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
The rich get even richer. Not much went right for Purdue in 2024, but one of the lone bright spots was Thieneman, who overcame a moribund Boilermakers defense to emerge as arguably the very best safety in the Big Ten — if not the entire country.
Purdue's roster shortcomings forced him to play down toward the line of scrimmage more often this year, but Oregon should get him back roaming center field as a deep safety, where he shined as a freshman in 2023. That sort of range should allow Ducks DC Tosh Lupoi to take a lot more liberty with his pass rush, knowing he has Thieneman on the back end to help clean up any mistakes.
2. EDGE Patrick Payton, LSU
Brian Kelly made plenty of splashes on offense this portal season, from Mississippi State QB Michael Van Buren to receivers Nic Anderson from Oklahoma and Barion Brown from Kentucky. But scoring has never really been the problem for Kelly at LSU; getting stops has, which is why poaching Payton from Florida State looms larger than anything else the Tigers did this winter.
Sure, the Seminoles were a disaster on both sides of the ball this season. But Payton shouldn't be held responsible for what was a team-wide collapse: This is still the guy who won ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year honors back in 2022, and he's blossomed into a two-way stalwart with 80 pressures, 31.5 tackles for loss, 16 sacks and 13 pass breakups recorded over the past three seasons. He can hold up well against the run and get after the passer on third downs, and Kelly's team needs all the help it can get up front if it wants to finally break through in the SEC.
1. QB John Mateer, Oklahoma
What a difference a few days can make. Before the transfer portal opened, it was tough to tell just what the plan was for Brent Venables at Oklahoma, coming off a 6-6 season in which the offense completely collapsed. But then Venables hired one of the hottest coordinators in the country, snagging Ben Arbuckle from Washington State, and then Arbuckle convinced his old quarterback, Mateer, to follow him to Norman.
A former two-star recruit out of Texas, Mateer came out of nowhere in 2024, putting up video-game numbers in Arbuckle's Air Raid offense: 3,139 yards and 29 TDs passing, plus 826 yards and 15 more scores on the ground. Yes, a lot of that production came against subpar competition, but Mateer also put nearly 200 yards rushing on Texas Tech and singlehandedly lead the Cougars to a rivalry win over Washington; he's an electric athlete, and he could cause a lot of problems for the SEC next season. The Sooners needed to nail this offensive transition, and it's hard to imagine a better outcome.