With a new college football season almost upon us, it's hard to find anything but optimism everywhere you look. No matter how you did last year or how hot your coach's seat might feel, everyone's record has been reset, and the slate is wiped clean — especially in the era of the transfer portal, where you can overhaul your roster in the blink of an eye. The offseason is where hype trains begin, as everybody's in great shape and standing out in a practice setting.
Inevitably, though, reality is going to set in; after all, not every team can have a successful 2026 campaign. And the 10 transfers below stand out as big names who might nonetheless fall short of big expectations once the lights come on.
QB Rocco Becht, Penn State
Matt Campbell didn't have much of a choice, considering just how many players exited State College after James Franklin's dismissal. He could either bring as much of Iowa State's roster with him as possible or try to assemble a competitive Big Ten team on the fly, and it's understandable that he went with option A.
I think expectations have gotten a little out of whack here in year one, though, especially on the offensive side of the ball. It's easy to point to Becht's three full years of starting experience in the Big 12 and his gaudy passing totals and claim that Penn State is bringing in one of the most accomplished QBs of this portal cycle. I'm not sure that's reality, though: Becht has never been the most accurate guy — his completion percentage has hovered around 60 percent throughout his career — and he's always been a bit too willing to extend plays, take sacks and put balls in harm's way.
You admire his gamer qualities, but there's a reason that Iowa State ranked 63rd in ESPN's SP+ last season. There's also a reason why Becht's passer rating has declined in each of his years as a starter. Expect competence here, sure, but not much more.
RB Cam Cook, West Virginia
The FBS rushing leader from last season is headed to a Rich Rodriguez offense; what's not to like? Well, for starters, the Mountaineers were a mess in year one of Rodriguez's return last season, and while injuries up and down the offensive depth chart certainly played a role in that, WVU once again faces massive turnover and will be relying on tons of transfers to gel quickly — especially on the offensive line.
I also think Cook's numbers last year, while prodigious, may overstate how much of a difference-maker he truly is. He absorbed enormous volume at Jacksonville State last season (an FBS-leading 295 carries!), and even if he can do so for a second year in a row, maintaining that level of efficiency in the Big 12 will be a different beast. Prior to breaking out in the Sun Belt, he was averaging less than four yards per carry at TCU. This is far from a just add water situation.
WR Trell Harris, Oklahoma
Oklahoma brings back leading receiver Isaiah Sategna, but beyond that, they'll be relying on transfers to improve a passing attack that wasn't dynamic enough in SEC play last season. Foremost among those transfers is Harris, a size/speed marvel who flashed real upside as a deep threat first at Kent State and then at Virginia.
He's also had a hard time staying on the field during his collegiate career, and sure enough, he's been banged up a bit this summer (though OU does expect him to be ready to go for Week 1). Combine the injury question mark with his boom-or-bust nature — over 300 of his 847 yards last season came in two games against Duke and Stanford — and the lingering questions about John Mateer's ability to push the ball downfield, and I have a hard time seeing Harris sniff 1,000 yards again in 2026.
WR Isaiah Horton, Texas A&M
This is as much about who Horton is expected to replace as it is about who he is as a player. The Aggies bring back big-play maven Mario Craver, but Horton will be taking first-round pick KC Concepcion's spot in the lineup this season, despite the fact that he's a much different player — a big-body possession type rather than a jitterbug YAC monster.
That stylistic difference matters, because Concepcion did a lot to paper over how erratic Marcel Reed was as a passer last year (you don't have to risk pushing the ball much when your wideout is a threat to go the distance on a bubble screen). Horton doesn't have that sort of juice; in fact, he's yet to go over 616 yards in four collegiate seasons to date, averaging less than 12 yards per catch in his career. He's a perfectly acceptable Power 4 starter, but I fear that A&M will need something more dynamic if they want to repeat the success of 2025 without OC Collin Klein.
OT Xavier Chaplin (and QB Ashton Daniels), Florida State
Chaplin and Daniels both come to Tallahassee after spending last season at Auburn, so we'll include them here together. Daniels was an interesting choice at QB for Mike Norvell ahead of what is in all likelihood a make-or-break season — a sturdy runner, sure, but extremely raw as a passer, as evidenced by a 57.1 completion percentage and 6.7 yards per attempt in 2025 to go with a 24:22 career TD:INT ratio. He still has a ton to prove as a starting QB at this level, to put it mildly.
But the biggest question facing the Noles this season is whether they can improve an offensive line that was downright dreadful for most of last year. If the answer is going to be yes, it's going to start with Chaplin, one of the team's biggest splashes in the portal. He showed real promise in his first two years at Virginia Tech, but he was awfully up-and-down last year at Auburn, whether because he was playing through injury or he just struggled to deal with a different level of athlete in the SEC. Florida State is paying him like an all-conference tackle, and while I'm confident he can at least stabilize the position, I don't know that he's good enough to turn around the trajectory of an offense that hasn't been good for a couple years now.
OT Jacarrius Peak, South Carolina
Speaking of embattled head coaches who are hoping that big-time tackle transfers can help right the offensive ship! South Carolina's O-line simply has not been good enough during the LaNorris Sellers era; even the Gamecocks' nine-win breakthrough in 2024 was more about Sellers scrambling and working magic with his legs than winning up front. So you can understand why Beamer was hell-bent on landing Peak in the transfer portal after he earned honorable-mention All-ACC at NC State last year.
Except, well, Peak got hurt earlier this offseason during a team-sanctioned 3-on-3 basketball tournament — guys, seriously, what? — and Beamer has been frustratingly coy about his status. Even if he is back and healthy in time for Week 1, this offense is facing so much turnover at just about every spot other than QB that I have a hard time seeing the requisite improvement. Plus, it's not like new OC Kendal Briles has the best track record.
DT Devan Thompkins, Alabama
If I had to pick the player most likely to make their inclusion on this list look foolish, it might be Thompkins, an incredibly gifted athlete who's in line to start up front for what should be a very good Alabama defense this season. But for all his physical tools, his production across three years at USC was pretty middling — which is why I'm skeptical that he'll be the one to step up and provide a pass-rush threat alongside stud linebacker Yhonzae Pierre.
The Tide's offense might experience some growing pains as youngster Keelon Russell enters his first year as a starter without a ton of proven help up front or at running back. They're going to need their defense to be great to make a Playoff run, and the one potential weakness that could undo everything is up front, where most of last year's contributors are gone. If Thompkins makes good on his ceiling, it's wheels up for Kane Wommack's unit. But we're still waiting to see the reality be as good as the potential.
LB Christian Alliegro, Ohio State
Ohio State and Texas were sniffing around a lot of the same linebackers in the portal this winter. In the end, despite visiting with both players, the Horns went with former Pitt star Rasheen Biles, while the Buckeyes opted for Alliegro after a four-sack, 49-tackle season at Wisconsin.
Alliegro has proven that he's a perfectly sturdy Big Ten linebacker. But he's replacing two absolute stars in Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, and while no one's expecting him to play like a future top-10 pick, it's fair to wonder just how big the drop-off will be — and how it'll affect a defense that has to replace a whole heck of a lot at every level. Alliegro's production tailed off considerably after a midseason injury last year, and I have real questions about his sideline-to-sideline athleticism at the highest level. He won't be a disaster, but I have a feeling Ohio State fans are going to look back and wonder why Ryan Day failed to bring in the Columbus-native Biles instead.
EDGE Jordan Norman, Tennessee
There's a ton of buzz around the Tennessee offense after five-star true freshman Faizon Brandon earned the QB1 job, but the real question for the Vols this year revolves around a defense that simply wasn't good enough in 2025. That was especially true up front, where this unit got pushed around against the run and didn't have nearly enough juice getting after opposing QBs.
New DC Jim Knowles is here from Penn State to try and fix that, and the thought was that he'd bring star EDGE Chaz Coleman from Happy Valley with him. But Coleman was dismissed from the team, which now puts a ton of pressure on Norman, who comes to Knoxville after a six-sack season at Tulane. But being a complimentary pass rusher in the AAC (Norman's six sacks last year came against Temple, ECU, Army, Charlotte and Memphis) is much different than doing it in the SEC, and I'm skeptical that Heupel added enough talent to get the Vols back to nine or 10 wins.
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